Metrics Matter: How Many Hospices Exceed 40% of Discharges with Length of Stays 180 Days or More?

In the recent healthcare reform legislation, Medicare was instructed to place under medical review all hospices that had more than a to-be-determined percentage of their discharges with length of stays of 180 days or more. Discussion has centered on that metric being set at 40%. Using this metric, how many hospices will the current healthcare reform legislation affect?

Number of Hospices with > 40% of Discharges That Had Length of Stays Exceeding 180 Days
 

Healthcare Market Resources’ analyzed 2008 Medicare Claims to determine the number of hospices that had more than 40% of discharges with length of stays exceeding 180 days. Based on our analysis, we can conclude the following:

  • Surprisingly, there were only 45 hospices nationally that exceeded the 40% threshold.
  • Thirty-nine states had no hospice providers with more than 40% discharges that exceeded the 180-day length of stay.
  • Three states – Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi – accounted for more than 55% of the offenders.

It’s also interesting to note that Alabama, Oklahoma, and Mississippi also have the highest proportion of providers subject to the hospice cap. This is not surprising since both of these indicators can reflect the disproportionate number of long length-of-stay patients that make up their hospice communities. Moreover, the fiscal intermediaries, which recently won their contracts in a competitive bidding process, should be able to manage the workload at these levels without requiring additional resources.

Click here or call 215-657-7373 to learn more about this metric and the many ways you can use Healthcare Market Resources’ data to analyze industry and local market trends.