Hospice- A growing industry is becoming a shrinking priority…

Hospice- A growing industry is becoming a shrinking priority…

A recent study conducted by the Huffington Post reveals several interesting facts about the hospice industry. Using data from over 10 years of Medicare inspection reports, the following facts are just some of what the study uncovered…

  • The average U.S. hospice has not undergone a full certification inspection in more than 3.5 years. HuffPost found 759 hospices that haven’t been inspected in more than 6 years. Nursing home inspections, by contrast, are required by federal law at least every 15 months.
  • Despite widespread allegations of fraud and abuse, regulators have consistently rated hospice as a lower priority for inspection than traditional health facilities like hospitals.

These, combined with the fact that the U.S. hospice industry has quadrupled since 2000 (also from HuffPost) show that just because the industry is growing doesn’t mean the government is keeping up in making hospice care a regulatory priority.

The study uncovered more, which you can read here: http://projects.huffingtonpost.com/hospice-inc/database

marshall

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