Palliative Care
IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE WITH PALLIATIVE CARE
There are many hospice agencies that offer palliative care services. These services are a great option for patients facing serious illnesses as it provides them with specialized medical care to improve their quality of life, pain management and treatment. Palliative care is also helpful for patients that will eventually choose hospice care, allowing for a more seamless transition to hospice care.
PALLIATIVE CARE VS. HOSPICE CARE
- Though palliative and hospice care appear similar, the two differ significantly in medical treatment, billing and reimbursement. Unlike hospice care, palliative care can be provided concurrently with curative care.
- The palliative care model operates from a different billing cycle with a more complicated billing process. First, palliative care is billed per visit, unlike hospice care’s monthly billing cycle. Second, palliative care is modeled like a physician practice and is Medicare Part B, while hospice care is Medicare Part A.
- For palliative care patients, Medicare covers 80% of a patient’s charge, and the other 20% is included in the patient’s copay. Because of this, multiple layers are included for billing and managing a palliative care claim, with claims and formats different from billing for hospice care. Palliative care billing also requires manual manipulation, and few standardized EMRs are available for palliative care billing.
Despite its more complicated billing process, Advanced Revenue Cycle Management is dedicated to providing professional billing solutions to ensure that palliative care programs can continue to deliver the best care to their patients.
Palliative Billing Solutions
At Advanced Revenue Cycle Management, we help you get the most out of your program through comprehensive and reliable billing solutions. We focus on the financial aspect of a practice, so physicians and clinicians can keep their focus on patient care.
Through our seamless onboarding process, our experts work with you to increase the accuracy and efficiency of your palliative care billing process. We make sure palliative agencies of all shapes and sizes receive reimbursements appropriately and timely – no matter how big or small the amount.
FAQ
Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness, like cancer, heart failure or dementia. As a resource for comfort care, palliative care provides patients with an improved quality of life for themselves and their families. With palliative care, patients can also gain a better understanding of their choices for medical treatment.
Palliative care can be provided in a range of settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, patients’ homes, outpatient clinics and other specialized clinics, and can be provided by specially-trained doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.
Patients with serious illnesses benefit from palliative care as it relieves discomfort, pain and other symptoms of their diagnosis and helps prevent hospitalizations.
- Hospice care is billed on a monthly cycle, whereas palliative care is billed per visit. Unlike hospice care, palliative care billing often requires manual manipulation and includes multiple layers for billing and managing a claim. Billing for palliative care also includes claims and coding formats different from billing for hospice care.