The Hospice Moratorium: What CMS Is Really Signaling About the Future | Part Two
The hospice moratorium may eventually end—but the era of heightened scrutiny it represents is likely just beginning.
1 min read
Your hospice’s SSVI score tells a story—but it may leave out the context that matters most.
In Part One of this TCNtalks / Anatomy of Leadership conversation, host Chris Comeaux talks with HealthPivots’ Lindsay Doak to unpack the Service and Spending Variation Index (SSVI) and what it reveals about hospice utilization, non-hospice spending, and accountability. Together, they explore why avoiding flags is no guarantee of exceptional care—and why legitimate providers can face scrutiny for reasons that deserve a closer look.
From unexpected spending on skin allografts to the challenges of coordinating care in skilled nursing facilities, this discussion brings the numbers back to the people behind them. Lindsay examines measures that can identify concerning patterns, questions those that may disadvantage providers with low live discharge rates, and explains how community demographics can complicate comparisons.
For healthcare leaders, nonprofit executives, and hospice professionals, the challenge is clear: understand what your score is measuring, investigate what it misses, and keep patient and family needs at the center of every improvement.
Five key takeaways
- A score needs context. Avoiding SSVI points does not, by itself, establish that a hospice delivers exceptional care.
- Spending outside the benefit deserves attention. Lindsay explains why claims data can reveal services hospice teams may not know their patients received.
- Care coordination is a leadership responsibility. The discussion highlights the need for stronger communication and oversight with nursing facility partners.
- Some measures warrant closer scrutiny. Low live discharge rates and regional concentrations of nursing facility residents can complicate score interpretation.
- Patient needs should guide improvement. Responding to SSVI requires looking beyond thresholds to the care patients and families actually receive.
Before your next leadership meeting, ask: What is our SSVI score leaving out? Listen to Part One, share it with your clinical and quality teams, and follow TCNtalks / Anatomy of Leadership for Part Two, where the conversation turns to how a changing comparison group could affect hospice scores.
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