Legislation to Address OIG Hospice Survey Concerns Introduced in the Senate

Posted on Monday, November 11, 2019 1:56 PM

On November 7, 2019, Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced the “Hospice Care Improvement Act of 2019”.  This legislation is to refine the hospice survey process, improve compliance and increase transparency and it is a direct result of findings by the Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that showed hospice deficiencies. 

“The “Hospice Care Improvement Act of 2019” takes important steps toward addressing the issues identified in the OIG reports by:

  • Addressing the need for greater transparency of survey compliance by
    • Requiring uniform collection and reporting of hospice survey findings
    • Making survey information publicly available online
    • Including stakeholders in the process of identifying key survey findings that link to quality of care for use in published summaries of survey findings
    • Requiring annual reports on hospice survey performance
  • Making triennial surveys permanent
  • Requiring more frequent surveys for hospices subject to intermediate sanctions and new providers entering the program
  • Requiring state and accrediting organization surveyors to alert hospices to areas of concern at the time a survey concludes, and to provide educational support to assist with improvement on survey performance
  • Development of intermediate sanctions that would include:
    • payment suspension
    • temporary management
    • directed plans of correction
    • mandatory staff in-service training”

Source: NAHC Report


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