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Kaiser hospice program may lose Medicare funding
Posted
6-19-2000 Oakland. The Kaiser Oakland home hospice program may lose its Medicare funding if corrective actions are not completed for "communication issues" involving patient files. Program directors have submitted a 90-day corrective plan of action, said Kaiser spokeswoman Bettylu Smith. "We are working closely with the (Health Care Financing Administration) and have every expectation that our corrective action will be accepted, and we will pass our survey," Smith said. "The citations are on similar grounds: coordination of care, communication issues with physicians, folks in the field and staff in office systems." The hospice has one condition left to clear up by the end of June, said Wayne Moon, director of Hospitals and Community Care at the HCFA office in San Francisco. Based on 1998 figures, Kaiser could lose $700,000 in Medicare funding, Moon said. "It really depends on what we find, but if the condition is still out at the end of June, the hospice patients will be discharged and Kaiser home hospice will make arrangements with other facilities for them," Moon said. "Then the hospice will have to reapply for certification."
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