U.S. Representative

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Washington, Apr 17, 2012 -

Cornerstone Hospice and Palliative Care Inc. leadership was in Washington, D.C., last week. Meetings focused on the challenges facing hospices and to ask Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, for his support to preserve and protect the Medicare hospice benefit.

According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, hospices are facing unprecedented reimbursement and regulatory challenges and are bracing for the effect of multiple Medicare rate cuts and new regulations. New bipartisan legislation has been introduced in both chambers of Congress that would allow a hospice-payment demonstration program to evaluate proposed payment revisions for hospices that would be more in line with the operational realities of hospice services and avoid potential harm to Medicare funded hospice patient care.

The legislation would increase the frequency of hospice certification surveys to every three years. Currently, the majority of hospices are surveyed for certification every six to eight years. Florida hospices are committed to accountability and would welcome more frequent surveys, according to Cornerstone officials...(read more)