Beginning in January 2022, the Medicare Advantage (MA) Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Hospice Benefit Component model entered its second year of operation. Under the model, participating MA plans include the hospice benefit among their benefit offerings, as well as transitional concurrent care, palliative care, and hospice-specific supplemental benefits. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to operate the model for a total of four years (CY2021 through CY2024).
During the first year, nine MA plans participated in the model in 14 states and territories through 53 separate plan benefit packages (PBPs). During CY2022, the second year, the model expanded to 13 MA plans (through 115 PBPs) operating in 22 states and territories. In CY2022, that translates to a total of 461 counties in which the MA VBID Hospice Component model is operating across the nation.
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is seeking to connect hospice providers participating in the model – either as in-network or out-of-network hospices — for individual conversations about their experience in the model. If you are a hospice that has served patients enrolled in the MA VBID Hospice Component model, we urge you to contact Theresa Forster (tmf@nahc.org), NAHC’s VP for Hospice Policy & Programs, to schedule a brief discussion of your discuss your experience. Your participation will help NAHC assess the impact that the model may be having on hospice providers and the hospice benefit.
Following are the states in which the MA VBID Hospice Component Model is or has operated during CY2021 and CY2022:
- Alabama
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Texas
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
Please note: If you are a hospice provider and the VBID Hospice Benefit Component is offered in your state and you are interested in determining whether it is being offered in your service area, you must consult the list of PBPs for which CMS has posted a link HERE, sort by state and review the list of counties and zip codes where the PBPs are operating.