FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
Ron Panzer, President
Hospice Patients Alliance, Inc.
http://www.hospicepatients.org (616) 866-9127
http://www.hospicepatients.org/terri-schiavo-10-12-02-press-rel.html (snip)
Hospice Patients Alliance Blasts Hospice Agencies
That Terrorize the Chronically Disabled
Hospice that enrolls Non-Terminal Patients Commits Fraud
The United States Office of Inspector General has issued its warning to the public about questionable hospice agency practices and stated that some hospices have been found to engage in, "practices which ... have inappropriately maximized their Medicare reimbursements at beneficiary expense. These practices include: Making incorrect determinations of a person’s life expectancy for purposes of meeting hospice eligibility criteria."3 A hospice that bills Medicare, Medicaid or a private insurer for a non-terminal patient is violating the contracts which allow hospices to provide services for the terminally ill.
Hospices are not licensed to care for the chronically ill. In order for a patient to be admitted to hospice, the physician must "certify" that the patient is likely to die within six months due to a terminal illness. Terri Schiavo has no terminal illness; the only cause of death in her case would be her intentional murder by those intent on ending her life.
To be clear the report says "some" not all have engaged in questionable practices. This report was written almost 10 years ago.
Think it's true today in light of the possible lost of revenue from the gov't for non-compliance?
In the instance of Terri's Hospice, some of the questionalble billings that Medicare recieved were as a result of the actions by Aetna and their insurance practices not necessarily the Hospice.