Medication management is a vital part of a patient’s end-of-life care. It involves an in-depth assessment and understanding of the patient’s current medical condition, psychosocial history, past medication usage, and the patient’s current needs and goals for care. The provision of the palliation of pain and other distressing symptoms, along with patient safety should be the primary objective of the Hospice Interdisciplinary Team/Group (IDT/IDG).Per the Medicare Conditions of Participati...
On October 1, 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will launch the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) functionality for Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) assessment submission and reports. Below is important information about this transition to iQIES. Provider Security Officials (PSOs) Need to Register for an iQIES AccountPlease note that failure to obtain access to iQIES, on or before September 10, 2025, will impact your abi...
As CMS journeys toward value-based care, we have seen significant changes in how data is collected. While the hospice industry has been late to the game, they are catching up! In hopes of improving the quality of care provided to hospice patients and their families, CMS added a standardized data collection tool in 2014. This tool, the HIS (Hospice Item Set), has been utilized by CMS for over ten years to capture patient data at admission and discharge. Hospice agencies are required to submit ...
In the fall of every year the home health industry waits in anticipation as CMS prepares to publish the Final Rules for the next year. Thankfully, in the summer, CMS does provide a prequel and an opportunity for the industry to submit comments related to the proposed changes. We are currently in that comment period. CMS published the 2026 Proposed Rules in the Federal Register recently and along with PDGM and payment rate changes, a significant proposed change revolves around the face-to-face...