The nation’s hospice utilization rate among Medicare decedents has once again surpassed 50%, for the first time since the pandemic. However, fraud issues in the space create questions around the quality of care patients are receiving. Hospice utilization reached 51.7% in 2023, up more than two percentage points from the prior year, according to recent data from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). This is the highest rate since 2019. MedPAC observed increases in utilization across the board, even when stratified into subgroups by age, sex, race and rural or urban location.
Read the full article: Hospice Utilization Rebounds to Pre-Pandemic Levels, but Fraud Casts a Shadow //
Source: https://hospicenews.com/2024/12/17/hospice-utilization-rebounds-to-pre-pandemic-levels-but-fraud-casts-a-shadow