Mastodon The New York Times Takes on the Issue of Rising Hospice Costs ~ Pallimed

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The New York Times Takes on the Issue of Rising Hospice Costs

This week the New York Times talks about the rising costs of providing hospice care in America with a particularly juicy hook about a nearly $25 million whistle-blower settlement against an Alabama hospice.  From there it talks about the focus of some hospices to seek patients who are likely to have longer lengths of stay, like dementia and stroke.  One research analyst even goes as far to say "It's a lucrative business, at least under the current reimbursement system."  They also feature an inspector general report that documentation for hospice patients in nursing homes was lacking. 

Not a good start from a newspaper that has actually been quite kind to hospice in the past.  The rest of the article goes on to discuss the various fixes including every hospice medical director's new task: the face to face certification visit.  (We have not yet dedicated a blog post to face-to-face home visits for certification, but one is in the works so we can has that out at a later date.)

But the article leaves out a lot and I feel it is pretty one-sided.  Apparently Don Schumacher, head of the NHPCO, has found some flaws in the article too as he is communicating with the NYT editorial board.  There is relatively little about potential changes to the payment structure to focus greater reimbursement during the first 7 and last 7 days of service when need is thought to be the greatest.  The article does not talk about or reference the article by another NYT reporter from 2007 with the title "In Hospice Care, Longer Lives Mean Money Lost" about the aggregate cap. Nor did it quote the Duke Study that found hospice care saved Medicare an average of $2,300 per beneficiary (OPEN ACCESS PDF), calling hospice “a rare situation whereby something that improves quality of life also appears to reduce costs.”  Yeah, they missed some stuff.

Which is not to say we need to look closely at fraud issues.  Good oversight is important for a multi-billion part of the health care system, but we have to realize that every problem started out as the solution to another problem.  The system is perfectly designed for the outcomes it gets.  So let your legislators know about what hospice means to you.  Talk to your organizations and actually answer the advocacy emails that moment instead of promising to get back to them later.

As the NYT usually does there is no ability to comment on the article but there is a linked blog post at "The New Old Age" which allows for comments.  As of this writing there are 64 comments.  Here are a few I thought stood out:

It is amusing and annoying to be complaining about the costs of hospice care, when in fact hospice patients are forgoing the ER visits, hospitalizations, specialists' visits, procedures, and many medications that Medicare would instead be covering if not for the patient making a decision to pursue comfort care only. So, what was the cost SAVINGS to Medicare by having these people on hospice, even though they stayed on longer than usual? Alot.- ras

I don't even believe desperate old people are gaming the system via hospice. But if they are, it's because this country has utterly failed them, taken payroll deductions for a lifetime in exchange for medical care in old age, and then only given the kind of medical care 70-year-olds need, not 90-year-olds. Shame on us. - jane gross

Hospice is a critical service that is offered to all. It is necessary, compassionate, and well run. So, if we discontinue it or cut services, we are a nation without merit and compassion. We will not only be third world, we should not be in this world. - Julie

The article disingenuously ignores this broader care issue while it exploits an example of an Alzheimer's patient. Please, NY Times, get perspective on the bigger picture. Help the US face its fear of dementia that keeps us in denial and prevents us from preparing to fight a huge healthcare tidal wave. Take more leadership and make a difference. - Suzanne

So it's too expensive to have an MD check on hospice patients once every six months? The health care industry has become even more shamelessly and barbaricly greedy than I thought. - Cowboy Marine

ResearchBlogging.orgTAYLOR JR, D., OSTERMANN, J., VANHOUTVEN, C., TULSKY, J., & STEINHAUSER, K. (2007). What length of hospice use maximizes reduction in medical expenditures near death in the US Medicare program? Social Science and Medicine, 65 (7), 1466-1478 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.05.028

Photo credit: Flickr user:  castle79

Pallimed | Blogger Template adapted from Mash2 by Bloggermint