DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 08/06/2019 and available online at , and on

[Billing Code: 4120-01-P]

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 42 CFR Part 418 [CMS-1714-F] RIN 0938-AT71 Medicare Program; FY 2020 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Requirements AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: This final rule updates the hospice wage index, payment rates, and cap amount for fiscal year 2020. This rule also rebases the continuous home care, general inpatient care, and the inpatient respite care per diem payment rates in a budget-neutral manner to more accurately align Medicare payments with the costs of providing care. In addition, this rule modifies the election statement by requiring an addendum that includes information aimed at increasing coverage transparency for patient under a hospice election. Finally, this rule includes changes to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program. DATES: These regulations are effective on October 1, 2019. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions about hospice payment policy, send your inquiry via email to: hospicepolicy@cms..

Debra Dean-Whittaker, (410) 786-0848 for questions regarding the CAHPS? Hospice Survey. Cindy Massuda, (410) 786-0652 for questions regarding the hospice quality reporting program. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Executive Summary A. Purpose

This final rule makes updates to the hospice wage index, payment rates, and cap amount for fiscal year (FY) 2020, as required under section 1814(i) of the Social Security Act (the Act). This rule also rebases the continuous home care (CHC), general inpatient care (GIP), and inpatient respite care (IRC) per diem payment rates in a budget neutral manner to more accurately align payments with the costs of providing care, using the hospice payment reform authority under section 1814(i)(6) of the Act. This rule changes the hospice wage index to remove the 1-year lag in data by using the current year's hospital wage data to establish the hospice wage index. In addition, this rule modifies the hospice election statement by requiring an addendum that includes information aimed at increasing coverage transparency for patients under a hospice election. Finally, this rule includes changes to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program. B. Summary of the Major Provisions

Section III.A.2 of this final rule describes the FY 2020 hospice per diem payment rebasing methodology, cost reports and calculations. Using the hospice payment reform authority under section 1814(i)(6) of the Act, section III.A.3 of this final rule rebases the FY 2020 per diem payment rates for CHC, IRC, and GIP levels of care. As required in

section 1814(i)(6)(D)(ii) of the Act, any changes to hospice payment rates must be done in a budget neutral manner. As such, section III.A.3 also finalizes a reduction to the routine home care (RHC) payment amounts for FY 2020 in order to maintain overall budget neutrality. Section III.B.1 of this rule eliminates the 1-year lag of the pre-floor, pre-reclassified hospital wage index that is used in calculating the hospice wage index. Section III.B.2 updates the hospice wage index and makes the application of the updated wage data budget neutral for all four levels of hospice care. In section III.B.3 of this rule, we discuss the FY 2020 hospice payment update percentage of 2.6 percent. Section III.B.4 outlines the final FY 2020 hospice payment rates. Section III.B.5 of this final rule updates the hospice cap amount for FY 2020 by the hospice payment update percentage discussed in section III.B.3 of this rule. Section III.C modifies the hospice election statement content requirements at ? 418.24(b) to increase coverage transparency for patients under a hospice election by notifying beneficiaries if there are services that will not be covered by the hospice.

Finally, in section III.E of this rule, we discuss updates to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP), including: the development of claims-based and outcome measures, measure concepts, and the hospice assessment tool. We also provide updates on the public reporting change for the "Hospice Visits When Death is Imminent" measure pair, the posting of publicly available government data to the CMS Hospice Compare website, and the CAHPS? Hospice Survey.

C. Summary of Impacts The overall economic impact of this final rule is estimated to be $520 million in

increased payments to hospices for FY 2020. II. Background A. Hospice Care

Hospice care is a comprehensive, holistic approach to treatment that recognizes the impending death of a terminally ill individual and warrants a change in the focus from curative care to palliative care for relief of pain and for symptom management. Medicare regulations define "palliative care" as patient and family-centered care that optimizes quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering. Palliative care throughout the continuum of illness involves addressing physical, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual needs and to facilitate patient autonomy, access to information, and choice (42 CFR 418.3). Palliative care is at the core of hospice philosophy and care practices, and is a critical component of the Medicare hospice benefit.

The goal of hospice care is to help terminally ill individuals continue life with minimal disruption to normal activities while remaining primarily in the home environment. A hospice uses an interdisciplinary approach to deliver medical, nursing, social, psychological, emotional, and spiritual services through a collaboration of professionals and other caregivers, with the goal of making the beneficiary as physically and emotionally comfortable as possible. Hospice is compassionate beneficiary and family/caregiver-centered care for those who are terminally ill.

As referenced in our regulations at ? 418.22(b)(1), to be eligible for Medicare hospice services, the patient's attending physician (if any) and the hospice medical

director must certify that the individual is "terminally ill," as defined in section 1861(dd)(3)(A) of the Act and our regulations at ? 418.3; that is, the individual's prognosis is for a life expectancy of 6 months or less if the terminal illness runs its normal course. The regulations at ? 418.22(b)(3) require that the certification and recertification forms include a brief narrative explanation of the clinical findings that support a life expectancy of 6 months or less.

Under the Medicare hospice benefit, the election of hospice care is a patient choice and once a terminally ill patient elects to receive hospice care, a hospice interdisciplinary group is essential in the seamless provision of services. These hospice services are provided primarily in the individual's home. The hospice interdisciplinary group works with the beneficiary, family, and caregivers to develop a coordinated, comprehensive care plan; reduce unnecessary diagnostics or ineffective therapies; and maintain ongoing communication with individuals and their families about changes in their condition. The beneficiary's care plan will shift over time to meet the changing needs of the individual, family, and caregiver(s) as the individual approaches the end of life.

If, in the judgment of the hospice interdisciplinary team, which includes the hospice physician, the patient's symptoms cannot be effectively managed at home, then the patient is eligible for general inpatient care (GIP), a more medically intense level of care. GIP must be provided in a Medicare-certified hospice freestanding facility, skilled nursing facility, or hospital. GIP is provided to ensure that any new or worsening symptoms are intensively addressed so that the beneficiary can return to his or her home and continue to receive routine home care. Limited, short-term, intermittent, inpatient

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