MedPAC Examines New Data Sources for Hospice Visit-level Data, Affirms Recommendation for New Pay System by 2013

At its meeting November 5, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) examined patient-level data on hospice visits from two new data sources: voluntary reports from 17 nonprofit hospices for the October 2005 to September 2008 period, and Medicare hospice claims data from July to December 2008. Both sources supplied detailed information on patient length of…