NewsLine - January 2013 - (Page 37)

Why Giving Matters to Me A Monthly Donor Shares Why She Chooses to Give to Hospice One way to support NHF and give to hospice is through monthly donations. Even a small amount each month makes a difference in the lives of those facing the end of life. Jeannie Forrest is one such donor who shared her reasons for giving. Hospice is important to me for a couple of personally philosophic reasons and for simple pragmatic reasons. On the personal level: I’ve had experience with close friends using hospice services and have been consistently dazzled with the level of kindness and professionalism of the hospice volunteers. Hospice services allowed for their gentle, serene passing surrounded by family and friends, rather than a clinically invasive, cold and impersonal experience. Collectively, we hate to talk about death and about the end of life Jeannie Forrest because it taps into a profound and universal fear of the unknown. But ignoring it leaves us lonely and scared and unable to exercise our potential for a loving peace. Counter-intuitively, the stuff we choose to ignore is precisely the stuff that makes us the most anxious; supporting hospice is one of the ways I pay attention. On the practical level: As we stretch the limits of technology to extend life with medical overtreatment and futile care, we’re propping up a broken system. Sometimes administering medical care at the end of life actually contributes to suffering; hospice is a lovely and sensible alternative to that kind of systemic abuse. What is astonishing about medical doctors and their end of life treatment is not how much they get, but how little. Maybe we should be taking a lesson, eh? Hospice assures a better quality of life, right to the end of life. Jeannie Forrest is Vice Dean of New York University School of Law. To learn more about monthly giving, contact Heather Slack-Ratiu at hslackratiu@nationalhospicefoundation.org or (703) 837-3155. To set up a monthly donation, visit: www.nationalhospicefoundation.org/donate. NHPCO’s Regulatory Team Helps Providers By Jennifer Kennedy, MA, BSN, CHC, LNC, Director , Regulatory & Compliance It is a regulatory jungle out there, even for hospice providers! Ask any hospice professional and they will say that the most important thing they do every day is ensure that patients and their families receive high-quality, compassionate care. However, in order to be a hospice provider, a hospice must be licensed by their state and certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) if they choose to receive Medicare reimbursement. State regulators and CMS consistently review and update regulations and guidance that affect how hospice providers are required to operate their hospice and care for their patients. The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010 requires a hospice physician or nurse practitioner to perform a “face-to-face encounter” with all hospice patients after they have been in hospice care for two benefit periods. Hospices also are required to measure and submit of hospice quality measures to Medicare as proof of quality hospice care. The last several years have brought huge changes in the hospice industry. With all of the new requirements, hospice providers have had to adjust their operations and staffing significantly to be compliant in order to remain Medicare certified and receive crucial reimbursement. Regulations from CMS are often complicated to understand for the average hospice provider. Enter, NHPCO’s Regulatory Team! We monitor all communication from CMS and other federal agencies and translate the requirement for hospice providers into understandable language. We provide hospices with tools, resources, and education based on regulatory requirements to help them become and remain compliant. NHPCO has developed numerous tip sheets, education programs, process algorithms, and webpage information so that providers can locate specific topics and instantly understand the requirement. NHPCO’s Regulatory Assistance is also available to NHPCO members when they have a regulatory, compliance or clinical question. NHPCO answered approximately 4,500 questions from hospice providers in 2012, in addition to numerous calls from consumers. Helping hospice providers to become and remain compliant and provide high quality care is a high priority for the NHPCO regulatory team. We are there for hospice providers so that they can be there for their patients and families. Contributions to NHF help fund the work of the Regulatory Team. To help support this work and other projects, visit www.nationalhospicefoundation.org/donate A newsletter of the National Hospice Foundation | Winter 2013 3 http://www.nationalhospicefoundation.org/donate http://www.nationalhospicefoundation.org/donate

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NewsLine - January 2013

New Strategic Plan to Guide Us Forward
Highlights From 2012
New NHPCO Website
Meet MLC’s Stellar Plenary Speakers
The Voice of NCHPP
Social Work Leadership—a Resource to be Tapped
My.NHPCO: A Great Resource for SWs
Get the NHPCO Edge (display ad)
How Can I Help Hospice? (display ad)
Compliance Tip
A Special Thanks to Our Guest Authors
Videos Worth Watching
News From NHF

NewsLine - January 2013