Help Stop Cuts to Hospice

The Administration’s last budget package to Congress specifically asked for drastic cuts in hospice reimbursement rates in excess of 15 percent. Now is the time for the staff and volunteers to make our voices heard to protest this unprecedented attack on the high quality end-of-life care that is delivered by hospices across the nation.

We are asking representatives to add their names to a letter being circulated from Congress to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, asking him to keep the current hospice rate structure in Medicare. Your elected representatives need to hear from you that hospice is important to our community and that you expect them to sign on to the letter to the Secretary. We are asking you to act quickly, as CMS is expected to begin the process to change the rate structure perhaps as early as this week (4/27).

Please use the following links to contact your U.S. Senate and House Representatives. The sample letter below can be used or modified and pasted in the contact boxes on the web pages of your representatives.

SAMPLE LETTER:
[please personalize the bold areas of the letter]

Dear Senator (Doe)/ Representative (Doe):

I am contacting you as a (staff member/volunteer) of HospiceCare Inc. to respectfully ask you to continue your support of expert end-of-life services for your constituents. Congressional letters in the House and Senate to HHS Secretary Leavitt are being circulated for signature; I urge you to add your name to this important correspondence. Any cuts to the Medicare Hospice Benefit would mean drastic changes for our hospice program and could limit access to our high quality form of care.

The President's Fiscal Year 2009 Budget calls for CMS to eliminate the current budget neutrality factor in the hospice wage index. This administrative action would cut approximately $2.29 billion in payments to hospice providers over the budget period. Yet, the proposal has neither been approved by Congress nor recommended by MedPAC, and the Agency's legal authority to act remains in question.

According to a recent MedPAC finding, the National Median Margin for hospices is 3.4% and with such a thin margin, a cut in rates will put undue pressure on providers of this high quality care.

We understand CMS plans to issue a proposed rule to implement this devastating change within the next few weeks. In response, we are seeking Congressional support for a bipartisan, bicameral effort to urge Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Leavitt to reject the proposal.

As you are my elected representative to Congress, I am asking you to represent me and the thousands of people served each year by HospiceCare by signing the letter to Secretary Leavitt. It is a critical first step in the effort to preserve hospice in the United States.

The bipartisan sign-on letter is being spearheaded by Sens. Arlen Specter, Tom Harkin and Ron Wyden in the Senate (staff contact in Specter’s office: John_Myers@specter.senate.gov or 202.224.4254) and Congressman Van Hollen in the House (staff contact in Van Hollen’s office is Ray.Thorn@mail.house.gov or 202-225-5341).

Time is short to prevent the process to cut rates in hospice. Please add your name to the letter today.

Sincerely,

(Your Name)
(Title)
HospiceCare Inc.