Hospice Home Care - Frequency of Nurse On-Site Visits to Assess Quality of Care and Services

In 2013, more than 1.3 million Medicare beneficiaries received hospice services from more than 3,900 hospice providers, and Medicare hospice expenditures totaled $15.1 billion. Hospices are required to comply with all Federal, State, and local laws and regulations related to the health and safety of patients (42 CFR § 418.116). Medicare requires that a registered nurse make an on-site visit to the patient's home at least once every 14 days to assess the quality of care and services provided by the hospice aide and to ensure that services ordered by the hospice interdisciplinary group meet the patient's needs (42 CFR § 418.76(h)(1)(i)). We will determine whether registered nurses made required on-site visits to the homes of Medicare beneficiaries who were in hospice care.

Announced or Revised	Agency	Title	Component	Report Number(s)	Expected Issue Date (FY)
Nov-16	Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services	Hospice Home Care - Frequency of Nurse On-Site Visits to Assess Quality of Care and Services	Office of Audit Services	W-00-16-35777	2020