Hospice Demonstration Sites Announced for Medicare Care Choices Model

Today, CMS announced the names of 141 organizations that will serve as demonstration sites for its Medicare Care Choice Model (MCCM). This list is available on the CMS website.

CMS originally anticipated selecting 30 Medicare-certified hospices for the project but given the overwhelming interest from the U.S. hospice community, the list of MCCM demonstration sites grew to over 140, many of which are NHPCO members. This will enable the model to provide care for up to 150,000 Medicare or dually eligible beneficiaries over the five year period.

The MCCM is an initiative developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to explore ways to improve care options for beneficiaries by allowing greater flexibility and choice “in deciding between hospice care and curative treatment, when faced with life-limiting illness.” 

With the intention of improving Medicare beneficiaries’ quality of care and patient and family satisfaction, the MCCM will provide a new option for beneficiaries with advanced cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, and HIV/AIDS who meet hospice eligibility requirements under the Medicare hospice benefit, to receive palliative care services from  the hospice providers who have been chosen to participate in the model while concurrently receiving services provided by their curative care providers.

- See the complete NHPCO press release.