Rarely do healthcare providers call on the government for greater scrutiny but the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) has consistently called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to implement more frequent and regular surveys of hospice providers in this country.
As the Washington Post’s Peter Whoriskey reports in his article today, “Is that hospice safe? Infrequent inspections means it may be impossible to know,” currently, hospices are surveyed six years on average.
This is an issue that NHPCO – working on behalf of the US hospice community – has been championing for well over a decade.
Increased frequency of surveys will provide better oversight and will expose hospice providers who are not compliant and are providing deficient patient care.
“NHPCO has a long history of working with regulators to ensure the highest standards of care, which is what the vast majority of hospices provide,” says NHPCO President and CEO, J. Donald Schumacher. “But even one case of a patient not receiving appropriate, compassionate care is one too many.”
Efforts to increase appropriate oversight include current bi-partisan legislation, the HELP Hospice Act, proposed in the Senate and the House of Representatives (S. 1053/H.R. 2302). Supported by NHPCO and its affiliate the Hospice Action Network, the HELP Hospice Act calls for hospices to be surveyed no less than every three years.
Currently, nursing homes in the US are surveyed, on average, every 18 months.
“CMS is struggling in its duty to not only support hospice providers but also the many patients and families they serve,” said Schumacher. “It is our hope that the government will find the necessary resources to move forward in a proactive way.”
The survey process looks at many aspects of an organization’s processes and the act of going through a survey can help a hospice pinpoint issues that they might have unintentionally missed.
“As we prepare for survey, there is much effort on the part of everyone to make sure we are following the accreditation standards and conditions of participation,” says Linda Todd, director of Hospice of Siouxland, Sioux City, Iowa. “Without the presence of a survey every three years, it is simply too easy to not maintain the details of the conditions of participation that are required.”
“Learning from the surveyor perspective what needs to be evaluated and possibly addressed in our program, as well as confirm what we are doing well, is important to us. We need the oversight perspective and guidance to ensure best practices happen every day, every time,” states Greg Wood, MS, LSW, executive director with Hospice of the Ozarks, Mountain Home, Arkansas.
Patients and family members considering hospice should ask providers in their area when they were last surveyed. There is also an accreditation process that many hospices undergo as an additional commitment to excellence and quality of care.
NHPCO has created a free worksheet on choosing a quality hospice. This and other resources are available at www.momentsoflife.org, launched by NHPCO to help people better understand all that hospice does to support patients and families facing life-limiting illness.
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