I’m very excited to participate in a new endeavor and pen the initial blog post for the Texas New Mexico Hospice Organization.  As the President of the Executive Board, I had the recent privilege of attending the Council of States meeting in Washington, D.C. with Executive Director Larry Farrow. It had been nearly 20 years […]

Texas Hospice Providers please note that the allowance for a physician assistant to be the attending physician, effective January 2019 will NOT be allowed until Texas Health and Human Services amends their rules!  Until such time, the stronger rule applies. Physician Assistants in Hospice On January 1, 2019, Physician Assistants were added to the list […]

Federal News and Information ~ Note the following information from Palmetto Palmetto Local Coverage Determination (LCDs) and LCD Article Updates: Hospice The following LCDs were revised: • The Hospice – Renal Care L34559 • The Billing and Coding: Hospice – Renal Care A56545 • The Billing and Coding: Hospice – Renal Care A56545 To access […]

SHOULD ‘DNR’ BE REPLACE THE TERM ‘NO CPR’?

“The term ‘do not resuscitate’ should be laid to rest,” argue Amber Barnato and Maxwell Vergo in an opinion piece published in The Hill. Barnato and Vergo are health care educators who say the term DNR is rife with misunderstandings for patients, families, and health-care providers alike, and they lay out a case to update the language around end-of-life wishes.

Local Coverage Determination (LCD) Update: Hospice
The following two local coverage determinations were revised for hospice:
Hospice Alzheimer’s Disease & Related Disorders L34567 
Hospice – Liver Disease L34544