Main Library
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) in October announced a “strategy refresh” that would guide development of its future payment models. If executed effectively, the strategy could make a substantial difference in hospice and palliative care as well as the health care system at large, a trio of experts told Hospice News.
The pillars of this strategy were diversity, equity and inclusion; aligning more patients with accountable care entities; integrated, person-centered care; health care affordability and development of partnerships to achieve these aims.
Among CMMI’s objectives, the diversity and equity piece may be the most significant. Racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities are pervasive throughout the health care system, including the hospice space. In 2018, for example, more than 80% of hospice patients were caucasian, according to the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). Disparities also exist when it comes to hospice referrals and quality of care.