Healthcare, Senior Living, Economics
Updates, policy and news in the Hospice industry.
On May 5, the U.S. Department of Justice released its most recent complaint (legal suit filed in Federal court) against Chemed, the corporate parent of Vitas. The complaint is a False Claims Act suit. Briefly for the uninitiated, a False Claims Act suit alleges that the Medicare provider knowingly (or unknowingly but once discovered, did … Read more
Over the past couple of months or so, I’ve watched rather intently, the developing storm clouds in the Hospice industry. Suffice to say, what is now apparent takes the form of a perfect storm. For industry “watchers”, the news regarding Vitas and the amalgamation of federal false claims act suits is a reflection on the … Read more
The smallest provider centric benefit (by outlay) under Medicare is also one of the fastest growing in terms of expenditures and agency growth. Lately, it’s arguably become the most controversial in terms of payment and expenditure growth correlated with fraud. In the past year, the industry saw multiple large-scale investigations and ultimately, legal actions and OIG/Department of Justice … Read more
Lately I have fielded a growing number of questions regarding various applications/uses of the False Claims Act and Medicare billing inquiries. What is disconcerting about these inquiries is their source; too many from providers or provider organizations. One in particular arises out of an acquisition and this bears special note and comment which, I have … Read more
More than two years ago I wrote a post regarding “five” things every SNF administrator should focus on and lo and behold, a reader asked late last week if I would revisit this subject. She (the reader) is not an SNF administrator so she asked if I could focus more globally; sort of a “best practices” … Read more
As the week concluded (sort of), I’m about half-way back in terms of cutting through the stacks of research and notes that I compiled through August and into early September. While time away from work is necessary for my sanity, it certainly promotes insanity upon return. Below is Part II of “catching up”, entirely focused … Read more
Probably the biggest trend as of late is my tardiness in getting these posts out on-time…sorry. My end of the week (last week) got distorted as I needed to attend a meeting with regard to a Medicaid shift in Kansas from fee-for-service to “managed”. As I have been through these conversions or switches before, it’s … Read more
Travel last week took me off schedule a tad so this post, normally scheduled for last Friday, didn’t make it on-line until Monday. Below is the list of what I am trending (watching) followed by last week’s Fall Outs (worth noting but not worth watching). Hospice Fraud Redux: This issue is one that I have … Read more
Opening celebration at the Olympics is catching most of the buzz today and the Dog Days of Summer are definitely full-on. Still too much heat and not enough rain for my pleasure but August is around the corner and hopefully, some cooler weather. If nothing else, I can rely on the Olympics to alter my … Read more
By popular request, I’ve created a new feature to this site to cover issues and topics “in brief” that I am watching or in some cases, directly tangential to by engagement. Weekly, my inbox is awash in “what have you heard?”, “are you seeing this?”, “what’s going on with?”, etc., type questions. I do try to answer them … Read more