In Amy Baxter’s article, “How the Hospice Benefit Could Be Redefined,” (05/02/18), Edo Banach shared some insight about how hospice needs to move “outside the box” of the Medicare benefit.
Banach’s thoughts include:
One way we see it moving is upstream, but it is an absolute shame that people have to give up so-called curative care in order to get palliative care, hospice. It shouldn’t be a choice. You should be able to get both.
I think when people get both, they often see the value of palliative care. There is a demonstration now called the Care Choices model, which is testing out if curative and palliative care saves money or not, [if it] is an improvement on quality or not, and that will be very helpful and telling.
My goal in the next couple years, if not the next couple months, is to create a pre-hospice palliative care benefit that will allow folks to benefit from person-centered interdisciplinary care, that you see in hospice, earlier. When they have a serious illness, [palliative care is] a pathway and a glide path to receive the full-on hospice benefit that they will eventually receive.
He also introduces the new My Hospice Campaign, designed to help legislators better understand the value of hospice care.
Read the complete interview on the Home Health Care News website.
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