End Hospice/Home Health Enrollment Moratoria: LeadingAge

In a new letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, LeadingAge is asking the agency to end the hospice and home health moratoria on new enrollments into the Medicare program.

LeadingAge President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan in the letter reiterates the association’s longstanding position, laid out at the start of the moratorium in May, and again in a message to members last month that a short-term moratorium is an appropriate tool to allow the agency time to develop and implement longer-term solutions to oversight including enhanced site visits, as well as stronger enrollment controls.

“We have not wavered in our position that targeted program integrity efforts to root out bad actors is necessary. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that legitimate providers are being caught in the crossfire of this war against fraud,” the advocates said in a blog post.

“We have heard from members about the need for the moratoria to end and we urge CMS to take more targeted approaches to oversight. The blunt nature of this national moratorium, which does not allow exceptions to enrollments in areas with clear needs, necessitates our voice now.”

This letter’s timing corresponds with CMS’s promised 60 days’ notice of whether they would continue the moratoria for hospice and home health.

Comments or questions? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.