OIG Report: Use of Hospice is Growing, but Quality May Be Lacking

​A July 2018 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General (OIG) found many vulnerabilities in hospice programs. OIG found issues such as not providing needed services to Medicare beneficiaries, poor quality of care, inappropriate billing practices and fraud schemes, too little information given to beneficiaries and their caregivers for them to make informed decisions, and current financial incentives for programs to limit services provided. According to the report, the use of hospice programs has increased over the past decade, accounting for $16.7 billion in Medicare payments for 1.4 million hospice beneficiaries in 2016.