Medicare Reimbursement Rate Trends in Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine from 2013 to 2022

Abstract

The patterns of declining Medicare reimbursement rates over time have been documented in various disciplines of healthcare, but little research has been done on geographic trends in Medicare reimbursement in the areas of hospice and palliative medicine. This article aims to explore these patterns as they relate to the field of hospice and palliative medicine. The purpose of hospice and palliative medicine is to reduce the mental and physical burden of serious illness by prioritizing quality of life throughout the disease course and mitigating factors that may contribute to patient and family suffering. With approximately 17% of the United States population over the age of 65 and that percentage projected to grow, the need for hospice and palliative medicine is expected to increase. This study considers 44 of the most common hospice and palliative medicine Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes and analyzes their national and statewide Medicare reimbursement trends from 2013 to 2022. Across this time period, these HCPCS procedure codes demonstrated a national average inflation-adjusted total percent change of –18.44% and a national average inflation-adjusted yearly percent change of –2.24%. Of the 44 HCPCS codes analyzed, the top 12 accounted for roughly 95% of the total revenue and saw a total average inflation-adjusted percent change of –20.0% over the time period studied.