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Review of Medicare’s proposed hospice eligibility criteria for select noncancer patients

Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida College of Medicine; LifePath Hospice, Tampa, Florida

Sandra Soendker, RN

LifePath Hospice, Tampa, Florida

Vince Perron, MD

Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida College of Medicine; LifePath Hospice, Tampa, Florida

Brenda Martin, RN

LifePath Hospice, Tampa, Florida

Bruce E. Robinson, MD, MPH

Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida

Ann E. Thal, LCSW, DCSW

LifePath Hospice, Tampa, Florida

Recent events have challenged our health system to increase access to and provide high quality care for patients near the end of life. Simultaneously, Medicare is developing review policies to determine eligibility for hospice patients with select noncancer diagnoses. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the proposed policies met one of their chief goals: accurate identification of patients with a less-than-six-months prognosis. Only 35 percent of 104 patients who died within six months of admission to the hospice used for this study, LifePath Hospice, met the Medicare proposed criteria for hospice eligibility. The median and mean survival time of the sample was 14 and 30 days respectively. Based on this review, it is recommended that Medicare alter their proposed review policies and not limit access to hospice eligible patients who desire and are in need of such services.

American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine®, Vol. 15, No. 3, 155-158 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/104990919801500310


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