Hospice Insights Podcast - Where’s the Line: When Does Poor Quality Create False Claims Liability
Hospice Insights Podcast - Hospice Audit Updates: Hospices Fare Well in Federal Court
Hospice Insights Podcast - AI in Action: Exploring How AI Is Helping Hospices Do Things in New Ways
Hospice Insights Podcast - Election Inspection: Be Proactive to Avoid Costly Election Statement Denials
Hospice Insights Podcast - Still Number One: Healthcare Fraud Remains Central in DOJ’s White Collar Enforcement Plan
Podcast - Innovations and Insights in the Palliative Care Space
Hospice Insights Podcast - Hospice Audit Updates: David Beats Goliath
Hospice Insights Podcast - But Wait: Things to Consider Before Adopting AI Tools In Your Hospice
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 10: Anti-Kickback Compliance for Hospice and Skilled Nursing Providers
Hospice Insights Podcast - One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Figuring Out What is Your Hospice+
Hospice Insights Podcast - Psychedelics and End of Life Care: Understanding the Legal Landscape
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 9: The Impact of AI and Prior Authorizations on Home Health and Hospice
Hospice Insights Podcast - Controlling the Narrative: A New Tactic for Auditors and ALJs
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 8: Hospice Special Focus Program: Pumping the Brakes
Hospice Insights Podcast - Upping the Ante: Will CMS’s Enhanced Oversight Efforts Cause Hospices to Fold?
Hospice Insights Podcast - A Year in Review: Reflections and Hopes for the Future
Hospice Insights Podcast - What a Difference No Deference Makes: Courts No Longer Bow to Administrative Agencies
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 7: OIG Report Reveals Gaps in Hospice PRF Compliance: What Providers Need to Know
Hospice Insights Podcast - Meet the New Laws, Same as the Old Laws: Overpayment Recoupment Update
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 6: Navigating the Audit Maze: Insights From Northeast Georgia Health System
The merger and acquisition environment for the care-at-home sector, including hospice, home health, and private duty services, has shifted significantly. At the 2025 Financial Summit hosted by the National Alliance for Care...more
UPIC activity is picking up, and the UPICs are reviving some old tactics. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske and Bryan Nowicki discuss these trends which include extrapolation, Medicaid nursing home room and...more
In this episode, AGG Post-Acute & Long-Term Care co-chair Jason Bring is joined by AGG Healthcare attorney Charmaine Mech to discuss the latest developments in the palliative care industry across the country. Jason and...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
On November 6, 2023, OIG released new General Compliance Program Guidance (General CPG). The General CPG applies to all individuals and entities involved in the healthcare industry. The release of the General CPG was not...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has finalized 2024 home health rules to include application of the home health “36-month rule” to hospice providers. The revised rule will forbid any change in majority...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
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
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a Proposed Rule on July 10, 2023, that, if finalized, will revise the Medicare Provider Enrollment requirements to expand the current Home Health Agency (“HHA”)...more
On July 10, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule (Proposed Rule) that would (i) include hospices in the 36-month rule ownership transfer restrictions that currently exist for home...more
Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a Proposed Rule that, if finalized, would extend the application of the “36-Month Rule” from home health agencies (“HHAs”) to also include hospice agencies as...more
On July 10, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a Proposed Rule that would extend the “36-Month Rule” to Hospice providers. The 36-Month Rule refers to 42 C.F.R. § 424.550(b), which currently...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
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Service Regulation (DHSR) has published the draft 2024 State Medical Facilities Plan (SMFP), which was developed by the State Health Coordinating...more
On April 20, 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made ownership data of all Medicare-certified hospices and home health agencies publicly available for the first time. This move is consistent with the...more
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced on April 27, 2023, that it will publicly release all ownership information of home health and hospice agencies. This move is aimed at increasing transparency and...more
On April 20, 2023, HHS announced that it is releasing ownership data for all Medicare-certified hospice and home health agencies not previously available to the public in this way. There are more than 6,000 hospices and...more
On Thursday, April 20, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released ownership data for all Medicare-certified hospice and home health agencies on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)...more
Publicizing home health agency and hospice agency ownership information furthers President Biden’s goal to promote competition and make data more transparent for consumers, as noted in his July 2021 Executive Order. A link...more
In this episode, we continue our discussion of home health enforcement trends, focusing on other audits currently troubling agencies. These include audits from Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPIC), Supplemental...more
As many hospices continue to diversify into new business lines, staying abreast of enforcement trends outside of hospice is more important than ever. Home health in particular, is receiving significant government scrutiny. In...more
The arrival of spring typically equates to the ‘spring-cleaning’ of your home. In this article, I challenge family caregivers and those of you wishing to age in place to polish your knowledge and spruce up your care-planning...more
I. Certificate of Need Program - A. AL2020-042, The Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama for the University of Alabama Hospital, Birmingham, AL: Proposes to expand the hospital by adding fifty (50) beds to its...more