Hospice Leaders: Don’t Stop Preparing for October 1, But You Need to Know What GAO Just Said

by bj@atxwebdesigns.com | Aug 26, 2026 | Audit & Compliance

Hospice agencies have spent months preparing for changes coming with the FY 2027 Hospice Final Rule, and one of the biggest operational changes is the new requirement involving the hospice election statement addendum. Beginning October 1, 2026, the addendum is...

A Good Hospice Chart Isn’t Enough Anymore

by bj@atxwebdesigns.com | Aug 26, 2026 | Audit & Compliance

For years, hospice compliance has centered heavily on the individual medical record, and for good reason. When an ADR arrives or a patient is selected for review, the question becomes whether that record supports a prognosis of six months or less and whether the...

Medicare Says Your Hospice Patient Wasn’t Eligible. That May Not Automatically Mean You Owe the Money Back.

by bj@atxwebdesigns.com | Aug 26, 2026 | Audit & Compliance

A federal appeals court just issued a decision that I think every hospice owner, administrator, clinical leader, auditor, and physician needs to understand. It doesn’t mean Medicare’s hospice eligibility requirements have changed, and it certainly...

CMS Is About to Publish More About Your Hospice

by bj@atxwebdesigns.com | Aug 26, 2026 | Audit & Compliance

CMS Is About to Publish More About Your Hospice. Have You Checked What It Says? Hospice leaders spend a lot of time making sure the information we submit to CMS is complete and accurate, but there is another step that is becoming increasingly important. We also need...

What Does Your Hospice Look Like From 30,000 Feet

by bj@atxwebdesigns.com | Aug 26, 2026 | Audit & Compliance

Hospice leaders spend a tremendous amount of time looking at individual patients. We review eligibility, documentation, certifications, plans of care, medications, visit frequency, decline, symptom management, and everything else happening at the patient level. We...

Hospice Audits Are Becoming Data-First, Not Chart-First

by bj@atxwebdesigns.com | Aug 26, 2026 | Audit & Compliance

For years, when we talked about hospice audits, we tended to think about the medical record first. An ADR arrives, someone pulls the chart, and we start looking at the certification, plan of care, nursing notes, physician documentation, decline, medications,...