Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Hospice and palliative care
MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy: Hospice Services: Chapter 9
Discusses payment adequacy for hospice and palliative support services. Includes data on average costs by day and aggregate margins by urban and rural status, as well as demographics on Medicare decedents who used hospice during 2010 and between 2019-2023. Compares the actual hospice utilization rates in micropolitan, rural adjacent, rural nonadjacent, and frontier areas to urban hospice utilization rates.
Date: 03/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Discusses payment adequacy for hospice and palliative support services. Includes data on average costs by day and aggregate margins by urban and rural status, as well as demographics on Medicare decedents who used hospice during 2010 and between 2019-2023. Compares the actual hospice utilization rates in micropolitan, rural adjacent, rural nonadjacent, and frontier areas to urban hospice utilization rates.
Date: 03/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2025
Annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Includes discussion on Medicare payment policies directly affecting rural providers and beneficiaries. Addresses payment adequacy for Medicare fee-for-service payment systems, Medicare Advantage (MA), and Medicare Part D.
Date: 03/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Includes discussion on Medicare payment policies directly affecting rural providers and beneficiaries. Addresses payment adequacy for Medicare fee-for-service payment systems, Medicare Advantage (MA), and Medicare Part D.
Date: 03/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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January 2025 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) January 2025 meeting. Covers payment adequacy and updates for physician and other health professional services, hospital inpatient and outpatient services, skilled nursing facility services, home health agency services, inpatient rehabilitation facility services, outpatient dialysis services, and hospice services. Discusses status reports on Medicare Part D, ambulatory surgical centers, and the Medicare Advantage program, as well as policy options for modifying the cost-sharing liability for beneficiaries who receive care at Critical Access Hospitals. Includes rural references and considerations throughout.
Additional links: Reducing Beneficiary Cost-sharing for Outpatient Services at Critical Access Hospitals
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) January 2025 meeting. Covers payment adequacy and updates for physician and other health professional services, hospital inpatient and outpatient services, skilled nursing facility services, home health agency services, inpatient rehabilitation facility services, outpatient dialysis services, and hospice services. Discusses status reports on Medicare Part D, ambulatory surgical centers, and the Medicare Advantage program, as well as policy options for modifying the cost-sharing liability for beneficiaries who receive care at Critical Access Hospitals. Includes rural references and considerations throughout.
Additional links: Reducing Beneficiary Cost-sharing for Outpatient Services at Critical Access Hospitals
Date: 01/2025
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Rural American Hospice Insights Report: Understanding the Needs of the Rural Family Caregiver
Presents findings from a survey of 400 rural family caregivers regarding their knowledge and perceptions of hospice care. Covers respondents' demographics, communication and learning preferences, awareness of and beliefs about hospice, priorities regarding hospice care, and more. Requires name, organization information, and email address to download.
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organizations: National Alliance for Care at Home, Transcend Strategy Group
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Presents findings from a survey of 400 rural family caregivers regarding their knowledge and perceptions of hospice care. Covers respondents' demographics, communication and learning preferences, awareness of and beliefs about hospice, priorities regarding hospice care, and more. Requires name, organization information, and email address to download.
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organizations: National Alliance for Care at Home, Transcend Strategy Group
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December 2024 MedPAC Meeting Transcript
Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) December 2024 meeting. Covers payment adequacy and updates for physician and other health professional services, hospital inpatient and outpatient services, Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs), skilled nursing facility services, inpatient rehabilitation facility services, home health services, hospice services, and outpatient dialysis services.
Additional links: Assessing Payment Adequacy and Updating Payments: Hospital Inpatient and Outpatient Services; and Mandated Report on Rural Emergency Hospitals - Presentation Slides, Assessing Payment Adequacy and Updating Payments: Skilled Nursing Facility Services - Presentation Slides
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Transcript from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's (MedPAC) December 2024 meeting. Covers payment adequacy and updates for physician and other health professional services, hospital inpatient and outpatient services, Rural Emergency Hospitals (REHs), skilled nursing facility services, inpatient rehabilitation facility services, home health services, hospice services, and outpatient dialysis services.
Additional links: Assessing Payment Adequacy and Updating Payments: Hospital Inpatient and Outpatient Services; and Mandated Report on Rural Emergency Hospitals - Presentation Slides, Assessing Payment Adequacy and Updating Payments: Skilled Nursing Facility Services - Presentation Slides
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Transitional Palliative Care for Family Caregivers: Outcomes From a Randomized Controlled Trial
Examines the influence of mentoring from a palliative care nurse on family caregivers in rural and medically underserved areas of three states. Analyzes adult caregivers from 2018-2022 after their care recipient who utilized inpatient palliative care was discharged from the hospital. Compares a control group who received only monthly phone calls with an intervention group who received teaching, guidance, and counseling. Discusses importance of both caregiver support and patient wellness.
Author(s): Joan M. Griffin, Jay N. Mandrekar, Catherine E. Vanderboom, et al.
Citation: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 68(5), 456-466
Date: 11/2024
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Examines the influence of mentoring from a palliative care nurse on family caregivers in rural and medically underserved areas of three states. Analyzes adult caregivers from 2018-2022 after their care recipient who utilized inpatient palliative care was discharged from the hospital. Compares a control group who received only monthly phone calls with an intervention group who received teaching, guidance, and counseling. Discusses importance of both caregiver support and patient wellness.
Author(s): Joan M. Griffin, Jay N. Mandrekar, Catherine E. Vanderboom, et al.
Citation: Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 68(5), 456-466
Date: 11/2024
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Medicare Payment Basics: Hospice Services Payment System
Overview of the Medicare hospice benefit and Medicare payments to hospice providers. Describes the four levels of care of the hospice prospective payment system and payment rates.
Date: 10/2024
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Overview of the Medicare hospice benefit and Medicare payments to hospice providers. Describes the four levels of care of the hospice prospective payment system and payment rates.
Date: 10/2024
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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NHPCO Facts and Figures: 2024 Edition
Provides an overview of hospice and palliative care in the United States. Includes information and data on patient characteristics, access to care, reimbursement, barriers and facilitators to care, quality of care, and more. Includes data on geographic locations of hospice services and patients.
Date: 09/2024
Sponsoring organizations: National Alliance for Care at Home, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
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Provides an overview of hospice and palliative care in the United States. Includes information and data on patient characteristics, access to care, reimbursement, barriers and facilitators to care, quality of care, and more. Includes data on geographic locations of hospice services and patients.
Date: 09/2024
Sponsoring organizations: National Alliance for Care at Home, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
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Palliative Care for Patients with Heart Failure and Family Caregivers in Rural Appalachia: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Evaluates FamPALcare, a telephone coaching intervention for family caregivers who provide palliative care to patients with heart failure (HF) in rural Appalachia. Provides data on patients' HF-related physical health and depression/anxiety, caregivers' caregiving burden and depression/anxiety, and intervention helpfulness at 3 and 6 months.
Author(s): Ubolrat Piamjariyakul, Angel Smothers, Kesheng Wang, et al.
Citation: BMC Palliative Care, 23, 199
Date: 08/2024
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Evaluates FamPALcare, a telephone coaching intervention for family caregivers who provide palliative care to patients with heart failure (HF) in rural Appalachia. Provides data on patients' HF-related physical health and depression/anxiety, caregivers' caregiving burden and depression/anxiety, and intervention helpfulness at 3 and 6 months.
Author(s): Ubolrat Piamjariyakul, Angel Smothers, Kesheng Wang, et al.
Citation: BMC Palliative Care, 23, 199
Date: 08/2024
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Palliative Care in Rural Communities
Presents the CARE (Complex, Access, Resourceful, Extraordinary) Framework to highlight the challenges and benefits of healthcare delivery in rural communities. Highlights multiple models for palliative care outside acute care settings with consideration for the CARE Framework.
Author(s): Tracy Fasolino, Kathleen Valentine, Megan E. Mayfield, William E. Rosa, Anne Koci
Citation: American Journal of Nursing, 128(4), 50-55
Date: 07/2024
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Presents the CARE (Complex, Access, Resourceful, Extraordinary) Framework to highlight the challenges and benefits of healthcare delivery in rural communities. Highlights multiple models for palliative care outside acute care settings with consideration for the CARE Framework.
Author(s): Tracy Fasolino, Kathleen Valentine, Megan E. Mayfield, William E. Rosa, Anne Koci
Citation: American Journal of Nursing, 128(4), 50-55
Date: 07/2024
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