Reforming Medicare’s hospice benefit (1)

The Congress should direct the Secretary to change the Medicare payment system for hospice to:
* Have relatively higher payments per day at the beginning of the episode and relatively lower payments per day as the length of the episode increases,
* Include a relatively higher payment for the costs associated with patient death at the end of the episode, and
* Implement the payment system changes in 2013, with a brief transitional period.
These payment system changes should be implemented in a budget-neutral manner in the first year.