In 2016 fee-for-service Medicare began reimbursing physicians for advance care planning conversations with enrollees during outpatient visits and waived the copayment for advance care planning when it was part of the Medicare annual wellness visit. Advance care planning is intended to help providers treat patients in ways consistent with their wishes and may also reduce unnecessary health care use and spending. Examining fee-for-service Medicare claims, we found a substantial increase in outpatient advance care planning claims between 2016 and 2019, although prevalence remained below 7.5 percent for all patient subgroups analyzed. Roughly half of beneficiaries with advance care planning claims received the service at an annual wellness visit; the remainder received it at a different outpatient visit. Among those with claims, Black, Hispanic, and Medicaid dual-eligible patients and patients with comorbidities were less likely to have a claim at an annual wellness visit, largely because they have fewer such visits overall. Medicare’s annual wellness visits offer the potential to expand enrollees’ access to advance care planning at no expense to them, in advance of serious illness, and to populations less likely to undertake advance care planning generally.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Nanette Barragan (D-CA) recently introduced the Compassionate Care Act to promote advance care planning and end-of-life care. The Act provides critical resources to educate patients and providers, develops core end-of-life quality measures, and expands access to advance care planning via telehealth. Many people do not have an ACP in the event they experience a…
C-TAC recently submitted comments regarding the proposed 2025 Hospice and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) rules. Here are our key points: Request for Information (RFI) on Payment Mechanism for High Intensity Palliative Care Services We pointed out the misleading alignment of the terms “comfort care” and “palliative care” on page 48: Hospice care changes the focus of a patient’s illness to…
National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD), April 16, was honored and celebrated by hundreds of healthcare organizations, professionals, patients, caregivers, and faith communities with events and educational campaigns held across the country. NHDD was founded in 2008 by Nathan Kottkamp, a Virginia-based healthcare lawyer, to provide clear, concise, and consistent information on healthcare decision-making to both the public and providers and…
