Piloting Compassion in Caregiving with Jonathan Knaul
Hospice Insights Podcast - AI in Action: Exploring How AI Is Helping Hospices Do Things in New Ways
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 9: The Impact of AI and Prior Authorizations on Home Health and Hospice
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 8: Hospice Special Focus Program: Pumping the Brakes
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 7: OIG Report Reveals Gaps in Hospice PRF Compliance: What Providers Need to Know
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 6: Navigating the Audit Maze: Insights From Northeast Georgia Health System
Hospice Insights Podcast - What's Good and Bad in Hospice Right Now: A Conversation with Greg Grabowski, Partner at Hospice Advisors
Hospice Insights Podcast - What's the Latest on UPICs? Highlights From Recent Audit Activity, Part II
Hospice Insights Podcast: What’s the Latest on UPICs? Highlights from Recent Audit Activity, Part I
Hospice Insights Podcast - Stories of Successful Hospice Leadership: The CEO and Chief Medical Officer Relationship
Hospice Insights Podcast - A Rise in Medicare Deactivations: Tips for Avoiding This Financial Pain
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 5: Understanding Palliative Care: Strategies for Compliance and Reimbursement
Hospice Insights: Check the Mail: Are You Getting a 4% Rate Cut?
Hospice Labor and Employment Trends - Get Up to Speed Fast: What You Need to Know About the New Rules Involving Non-Competes and Exempt Employees
Hospice Insights Podcast - A Refresh: What’s New in the New OIG General Compliance Program Guidance
Hospice Insights Podcast - Deal Breakers: Identifying Key Issues Early in Member Substitutions
A Command Performant(s): RAC Audits on the Rise
The TPE Carousel. . . Around and Around We Go
Hospice and Home Health Survey Perspectives: A Conversation with Kim Skehan, VP of Accreditation at CHAP
Year in Review: Key Regulatory Updates in 2023
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 14, 2025, issued the calendar year (CY) 2026 Proposed Rule, which proposes payment policies and other outpatient services covered under Medicare Part B. Comments are...more
On June 30, 2025, CMS issued its annual Home Health Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule for Calendar Year (CY) 2026 (the Proposed Rule). The Proposed Rule continues the agency’s policy of using provisions of the...more
In this episode, AGG Healthcare attorneys Bill Dombi and Jason Bring discuss the hospice special focus program and CMS’ announcement that it will cease implementing the program in the face of litigation filed by providers and...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2025 Home Health Prospective Payment System final rule (Final Rule) expanded the scope of providers subject to a provisional period of enhanced oversight (PPEO) to include...more
A new inspector general report finds that Medicare Part C reimbursement to private insurers increased by $4.2 billion in 2023 for diagnoses from home visits despite leading to no additional treatment. ...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have released significant updates affecting Medicare payments for 2025. The changes, outlined in two final rules, will impact both physicians and hospitals, eliciting strong...more
Below is Alston & Bird’s Health Care Week in Review, which provides a synopsis of the latest news in health care regulations, notices, and guidance; federal legislation and congressional committee action; reports, studies,...more
News Briefs - CMS Increases Acute Care Inpatient Hospital Payments by $2.9B - HHS has finalized the fiscal year 2025 Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System rule. The rule...more
On April 22, 2024 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the Medicaid Program; Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services final rule. The rule has a particular focus on home- and community-based services...more
In May 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) proposed a series of rule changes intended to help promote the availability of home and community-based services (“HCBS”) for Medicaid beneficiaries. Chief...more
News Briefs - House Subcommittee Considering 15 Bills to Expand Telehealth - A major House subcommittee is considering 15 bills to expand access to telehealth services as the clock ticks on a Dec. 31 deadline on pandemic-era...more
News Briefs - More Nonprofit Hospitals Adding Concierge Physician Practices - Nonprofit hospitals created largely to serve the poor are adding concierge physician practices, charging patients annual membership fees of $2,000...more
Applicable Provider Types: Hospice; Home Health Agency - Is Your Entity in Compliance? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized and expanded its so-called 36-month rule with certain changes...more
If you have had a loved one suffer from dementia, you know the emotional, physical, and financial toll of this terrible disease. With advancements in dementia treatment, however, there is renewed hope on addressing this...more
Since the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) paused much of its audit activity during the COVID Public Health Emergency, the most recent rounds of Medicare audit activity may represent the first “look” at the...more
The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized important changes to the Medicare enrollment regulations applicable to hospices and home health agencies (HHAs), including increasing the level of screening that...more
In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske is joined by friend and industry veteran Kim Skehan. In this wide-ranging conversation, they explore not only the recent survey reforms but the ways in which Kim’s decades of...more
Healthcare systems are facing significant challenges in recruiting and retaining talent within the burgeoning field of behavioral health services, primarily due to competition from telehealth providers and inconsistent...more
Health systems and hospitals have implemented “hospital at home” programs for several years, but the trend increased in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic due to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) waiver....more
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) devised a “Special Focus Program” to identify poor performing hospices and help them improve through more frequent surveys and technical assistance. CMS would also impose...more
On Wednesday, November 1, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update final rule for CY 2024 (the Final Rule). The Rule estimates that the aggregate...more
For a variety of unfortunate reasons, some hospices found themselves facing a 4% rate reduction for non-compliance with either Hospice Item Set (HIS) or Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems (CAHPS)...more
CMS has criticized hospices for underutilizing general inpatient care (GIP) but has also specifically targeted GIP claims for audit and medical review. In addition to CMS’s standard tools for reviewing GIP claims, such as...more
On June 6, 2023, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provided a Quality Safety & Oversight (QSO) memorandum outlining CMS-identified concerns with respect to the patient discharge process (Memo). As set forth...more
AGG’s Home Health & Hospice team publishes a quarterly newsletter covering legal and regulatory topics specific to the home and community-based healthcare industry. The fields of end-of-life and home healthcare present...more