NHPCO Draws Providers’ Attention to Article in New York Times

NHPCO members may have seen the article from Kaiser Health News that was posted on the New York Times website yesterday and appears in print in the Health & Science section today, "Concerns about costs rise with hospices' use."

NHPCO wanted to let members know that President/CEO Don Schumacher wrote a letter to the editor reminding the NY Times that growth in hospice over the past decade reflects our caring more compassionately for the dying in this country. He also made the point that NHPCO has been calling for more federal oversight of hospice for many years.

The NY Times blog page, New Old Age, welcomes comments from readers. Please feel free to share any thoughts you might have through the comment section of the New Old Age blog. An insightful comment was posted on the New Old Age blog that NHPCO would like to draw provider's attention to. An individual wrote: "I'm so thankful that this article was published, because we weren't aware that hospice care was available for end stage Alzheimers. We want to do everything we can to honor my mother's wish that she die in her own home, but if things become impossible,,,well it gives me great comfort to know there is another option."

To many of us, so close to issues that involve the field, it can be easy to forget that many members of the public are concerned about issues as they affect them in a personal way. Even challenging news articles can provide valuable information about hospice that is important to the public.

In addition to Don's letter to the editor, we are submitting an op-ed to the NY Times that we hope will get serious consideration.

Additionally, the Public Policy team has put together some specific talking points they are sharing with legislators and their staffs on Capitol Hill who may have concern or confusion resulting from this article.

We wanted to assure members that NHPCO has been actively responding following the release of this article.

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Capitol Hill Day a Success

NHPCO CAPITOL HILL DAY PARTICIPANTS TO CONGRESS: PROTECT ACCESS TO COMPASSIONATE & HIGH-QUALITY END-OF-LIFE CARE

(Alexandria, Va) – More than 500 Hospice Advocates from across the country met with their U.S. Senators and Representatives yesterday, urging them to protect access to compassionate and high-quality end-of-life care for the more than 1.4 million patients and families who depend on hospice each year.

The meetings were part of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s annual Capitol Hill Day. In addition to the meetings in Washington, D.C., thousands of phone calls were made to Congressional offices by Hospice Advocates, who participated in NHPCO’s inaugural Virtual Hill Day.

Throughout their interactions with Congress, NHPCO Hill Day participants emphasized the value of hospice in their communities, provided state-level data on quality and family satisfaction with hospice services provided, and urged lawmakers to support efforts to stop cuts in Medicare hospice funding that threaten to close the doors of hospice programs around the country.

In 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a regulation that eliminates a key component of the Medicare hospice reimbursement formula known as the budget neutrality adjustment factor (BNAF). The phased funding cut threatened 3,000 hospice provider jobs this year, as well as the survival of hospice programs, especially smaller and rural ones, across the country as the cuts were phased in. While a temporary moratorium on the hospice funding cuts was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, it expires on September 30 of this year. Just this week, CMS released a proposed FY2010 Hospice Wage Index rule that would incorporate a 75 percent reduction in the BNAF, which is a 3.1 percent reduction in overall hospice reimbursement. This development underscores the urgency in rescinding the CMS rule.

NHPCO Hill Day participants specifically asked Members of Congress to sign on to a bipartisan letter to President Barack Obama and to contact the Department of Health and Human Services about rescinding the 2008 CMS hospice funding cut before it goes into effect on October 1 of this year.

“This is a critical year for the hospice community, so it was important for our advocates to send a strong message to Capitol Hill about the importance of the high-quality services provided through hospice, and the fact that hospice is a cost-saver to Medicare. If these funding cuts are allowed to go forward, they will have a devastating effect on access to high-quality and compassionate end-of-life care,” said J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of NHPCO.
In 2007, an independent, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded study by Duke University found that hospice reduced Medicare costs by $2,300 per patient, amounting to more than $2 billion in savings per year.

Hill Day kicks off NHPCO’s annual Management & Leadership Conference, which attracts more than 1,600 members of the hospice community from all over the nation. Two hundred additional members of the hospice community joined the Hill Day participants for a reception honoring Hospice Champions on Capitol Hill at the new U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. Later in the week, the hospice community will also hear from Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform, and Elizabeth Edwards when she is recognized as NHPCO’s Person of the Year.

For more information about NHPCO’s Capitol Hill Day, please visit: www.nhpco.org/advocacy.

Media Contact:
Sara Perkins
Manager of Public Policy Communications
Ph: 703-837-3155
sperkins@nhpco.org

NHPCO Responds to Misleading Associated Press Quote

NHPCO Comments on Misleading Quote in Associated Press Article and Provides Helpful Information

Hospice is about Living Life as Fully as Possible

(Alexandria, Va) – The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization wants all people to know that hospice delivers the highest quality care and services to patients and family caregivers who are coping with life-limiting illness. A recent article carried by the Associated Press (“Assisted Suicide Presents Legal Quandary,” by Greg Bluestein, 03/02/09) carries a misinformed quote from an attorney who incorrectly compared hospice to suicide. This remark was incorrect and demonstrates a lack of understanding about the hospice philosophy of care.

“Hospice compassionately cares for people who are near the close of life – but hospice isn’t about how you die, it’s about how you live. Hospice and palliative care focuses on how dying persons and their loved ones live each day, providing comfort and guidance along the way,” said J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “The quote from that news article demonstrates a callous disregard for all those who receive care, including family caregivers, from our nation’s hospice programs.”

Hospice is widely recognized as the model for quality, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness or injury. Hospice and palliative care involve a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the person’s needs and wishes. Support is provided to the person's loved ones as well.

“A common misconception people have is that hospice means you’re ‘giving up’ or ‘that there’s nothing left for the doctor to do,’ and that’s absolutely wrong. Hospice is not about giving up but is about maximizing the quality of life, no matter how long that might be,” Schumacher said.

When cure is no longer possible, hospice provides the type of care most people say they want at the end of life – comfort and quality of life. The most common statement made by families who chose hospice for their loved one is, “we wish we had known about hospice sooner.”

• Hospice focuses on caring, not curing and, in most cases, care is provided in the person’s home.
• Hospice care also is provided in freestanding hospice centers, hospitals, and nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
• Hospice services are available to patients of any age, religion, race, or illness.
• Hospice provides bereavement support to families for 12 months following the death of their loved one.
• Hospice care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid, most private insurance plans, HMOs, and other managed care organizations
• Research has shown the Medicare beneficiaries that opted for hospice care as opposed to other medical interventions when faced with a terminal illness lived on average 29 days longer than those who did not receive hospice care.

Foundational values of NHPCO include universal access to high quality hospice and palliative care, fully informed decision-making, mitigation of unwanted suffering, non-abandonment and support for the bereaved. NHPCO would encourage all those struggling with serious and life-limiting illness to fully explore hospice and palliative care services before they find themselves in a crisis situation involving options for care of a dying loved one. To learn more about hospice and palliative care, dealing with pain, and advance care planning, visit NHPCO’s Caring Connections at http://www.caringinfo.org/oror call 1-800-658-8898.

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Note: NHPCO’s position statement and narrative on physician assisted suicide is available via the Communications section of NHPCO’s Web site.

Media Contact: Jon Radulovic

NHPCO, Vice President of Communications

703-837-3139

jradulovic@nhpco.org

For more information visit, http://www.nhpco.org