Medicare Hospices Have Financial Incentives To Provide Care in Assisted Living Facilities

In this report released in January 2015, the federal Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services analyzed all Medicare hospice claims from 2007 through 2012. The goal was to identify changes in utilization by service setting. Care may be provided in various settings, including a private home or other places of residence, such as an assisted living facility (ALF). The OIG found that Medicare payments for hospice care in ALFs more than doubled in five years, totaling $2.1 billion in 2012. Hospices provided care much longer and received much higher Medicare payments . . .