Hospices Get 3.1% Pay Bump in 2024 Final Rule

Last Friday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the final rule for the FY 2024 Hospice Payment Rate Update.

Hospices will receive 3.1% pay bump, which will work out to roughly $780 million. According to the CMS Fact Sheet, the rule also raises the payment cap to $33,494.01.

The agency also notes that it intends to increase scrutiny of the hospice industry at large following widespread complaints of fraud, waste and abuse. Modern Healthcare notes that the rule will require physicians who admit patients to hospice to be Medicare providers or have opted out the quarter in which the admission occurs.

But hospice advocacy groups were more concerned with the inadequacy of the raise, as in most other health industry sectors the hospice industry claims to have been hit uniquely hard by COVID-19 and inflation, Hospice News reports. From Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge:

While we appreciate the payment increase to 3.1%, a more generous market basket update was badly needed for nonprofit, mission-driven hospice providers committed to continuing to provide quality care in their communities. Even with this increase, conditions on the ground require more support: workforce costs are higher than ever; nurses and aides are scarce, and cost for supplies, drugs, gas, and other expenses are all inflated.