The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released its final rule concerning hospice care, despite a recent notice saying it would delay issuing such a rule until 2009.
The rule revises criteria that hospices must meet to participate in Medicare and Medicaid. One of its key components is the new quality assessment requirement, which mandates a data-driven approach to evaluating and improving quality, according to CMS. This provision was in the proposed form of the rule issued by CMS in 2005, and many hospice organizations have had time to prepare for it, according to a National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) spokesman.
A comprehensive regulation, the rule will update policies that are up to 25 years old and will deal with everything from patient assessment and care planning to performance improvement and “the role of hospice care in long-term care facilities, CMS officials said. Earlier this week, CMS said it would delay publishing the final rule because its complexity and the large amount of feedback the agency received regarding the proposed rule. The final rule is expected to appear in the June 5 Federal Register.
To view the final rule, go to http://federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/08-1305_PI.pdf.
