• CMS has issued a revised CR 5567, (re-issued April  29, 2008), which requires hospice providers to report data on their claims for Medicare payment, describing the visits provided in the course of delivering each hospice level of care billed.  The premise of the revisions to CR 5567 is that for services provided on or after July 1, 2008, CMS will not require the reporting of visit data from non-hospice staff in contract facilities providing General Inpatient Care, at this time.  For additional information, see CR5567 FAQs.
• CMS-1548-P [PDF & TEXT]: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule to update the hospice wage index for FY 2009.  As part of that proposed rule, CMS also proposes a phased-in elimination of an adjustment, the budget neutrality adjustment factor (BNAF), to the hospice wage index that was put into place over 10 years ago to help hospices through a transitional period to a new wage index.  The combined effects of a 25% reduction to the BNAF in FY 2009 and an estimated 3.0% market basket update are estimated to increase payment to hospices in FY 2009 by 1.9%.  For more information, see the Fact Sheet. (Display Date: April 28, 2008; Publication Date: May 1, 2008; Comments due by 5pm on June 27, 2008) 

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• Hospice Data 1998-2005
• Medicare Hospice Expenditures and Units of Care
• Standard Analytical Files - Identifiable Data Files