Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Advisory committee says providers misunderstand concurrent care; plans education, regulatory review
Loading...
Summary
An advisory committee on pediatric hospice heard that concurrent hospice care is widely misunderstood by providers, discussed regulatory changes and payer engagement, and agreed to follow-up work including data requests, a regs work group and outreach to Katie Beckett program staff.
An advisory committee focused on pediatric hospice said on Friday that many providers misunderstand concurrent hospice care — the policy that allows some curative and hospice services to be provided simultaneously — and agreed to several follow-up actions to address gaps in knowledge, payment and regulation.
Committee members said a recent presentation by Jessica (speaker 2) highlighted how concurrent care can be underused. "This is a hospice item, and this is something that we would cover," the facilitator (Toni Ann) said when summarizing the presentation, arguing that some services now denied after families elect hospice should instead be billed under concurrent care. Eileen referenced a national NHPCO survey indicating that "concurrent care is confusing" for providers, reinforcing the message that education is needed.
Why it matters: Members said confusion about eligibility and billing can keep eligible children from receiving hospice supports while also preserving needed curative treatments. That confusion includes a common provider belief that families will lose private nursing if they enroll in hospice — a point several participants rebutted in the meeting. "They can," the facilitator said when asked whether private nursing can continue under concurrent care.
Key debates and proposals: Participants described several interlocking barriers — workforce shortages, unclear reimbursement, and regulations written from an adult-care perspective — and proposed a multi-pillar approach to address them. Barbara (speaker 6), a Department of Public Health staffer, described an ongoing regulation review and said the agency would consider separating home health and hospice licenses and adding pediatric-specific language to hospice regulations to reflect different clinical needs and family structures.
On payers, participants proposed outreach to private and public payers, and to Medicaid program staff, to clarify coding and payment practices. Regina (speaker 4), who represents Department of Social Services channels in the meeting, agreed to pursue specific answers about educating Husky providers on concurrent care and to return findings to the group.
Data and program questions: Attendees asked for several pieces of information to guide decisions: state-level data from NHPCO, payer responses on denied CPT/diagnostic codes, and details about the Katie Beckett waiver and how it interacts with hospice and concurrent-care eligibility. One participant reported there are roughly 325 children enrolled in the Katie Beckett waiver in the state and noted reports of a multi-year wait list for the waiver.
Next steps: The committee agreed to assemble a small work group on regulations, hold a separate meeting on workforce and nursing rotation strategies, request payer feedback on coding and payment, and invite representatives familiar with the Katie Beckett waiver to a future meeting. Those follow-ups were described as consensus next steps rather than formal votes.
The advisory committee closed with plans to circulate the NHPCO material and the payment methodology information discussed during the call, and to reconvene work groups on regulations and workforce.
