Hospice Documentation Tips

Summary: Medicare coverage of hospice depends on a physician’s certification that an individual’s prognosis is a life expectancy of six months or less if the terminal illness runs its normal course. Since determination of decline presumes assessment of the patient’s status over time, it is essential that both baseline and follow-up determinations be reported where appropriate. Patients that have ceased to show on-going decline or who have plateaued from a trajectory of decline may no longer meet hospice eligibility guidelines despite a significant need for custodial care.