Key Public Policy Issues

The landscape of healthcare legislation is constantly changing and San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine’s Advocacy Committee is committed to staying up to do date with the latest news. Below is a sampling of some hospice and palliative care issues that we are keeping on our radar.

• HELP Hospice Act [1]
• Affordable Care Act [2]
• Healthcare Reform’s impact on hospice and palliative care, including:
  • Changes to Medicare and Medicaid funding
  • Hospice Payment Reform
  • Medicare Provider Cuts
  • Medicare Reimbursement Schedule
  • Budget Neutrality Adjustment Factor (BNAF)
  • Productivity Adjustment Reduction
  • Ensure coverage of hospice is included in creation of Health Benefit Exchanges

• Accountable Care Organizations
• Face to Face Encounter - New Recertification
• Outreach and service to military families
• Recognition of Hospices as trainings sites by Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
• Hospice Care in Nursing homes
• Patient Centered Quality Care for Life Act
• Medicare Demonstration Project
• Concurrent Care for Children
• Advance Planning and Compassionate Care Act of 2009 – S. 1150
• Senior Navigation and Planning Act of 2009 - S. 1263
• Life Sustaining Treatment Preferences Act of 2009 - H.R. 1898
• Long Term Care (LTC) Project
• Nursing Enhancement (CA-DHS)
• Exemption to CA Corporate Practice of Medicine Law