End-of-Life Consults Being Revived as Medicare Benefit

After years of batting around the political hot potato known as end-of-life care, something former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin charged was equivalent to "death panels," Medicare is expected to announce that it will begin paying for a planning services benefit, according to Politico.

The new policy is anticipated to be included in the annual Medicare physician payment rule, though it’s not yet a "sure thing."

While end-of-life planning is already covered by some state Medicaid programs and bipartisan bills in both the House and the Senate have called for physician reimbursement for such conversations, the bills have yet to make it to the floor for a vote, according to Politico.

The Care Planning Act of 2015 — introduced by Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat, and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, a Republican — would allow Medicare to reimburse doctors and other healthcare professionals for consults with patients with advanced illness to discuss their end-of-life care, Forbes reports.

Medicare currently pays for end-of-life consultations only if they take place during an annual wellness visit. The new policy would permit Medicare reimbursement to doctors, nurses, social workers and spiritual counselors, according to Forbes.

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization has endorsed the legislation, as have more than 40 advocacy organizations, according to Forbes, including AARP, the Alzheimer’s Association, the American Heart Association and the National Council on Aging.

Palin’s "death panels" mischaracterization, insinuating that medical care could be withheld from the elderly, caused such an uproar that legislators ultimately removed a provision for Medicare reimbursement for end-of-life care from Obamacare, according to Politico.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, known by the acronym CMS, often adopts recommendations by the American Medical Association (AMA), according to an August 2014 New York Times story, and last year the organization created codes for end-of-life consultations and submitted them to Medicare.

"We think it’s really important to incentivize this kind of care," Dr. Barbara Levy, chairwoman of the AMA committee that submits reimbursement recommendations to Medicare, told the Times.

"The idea is to make sure patients and their families understand the consequences, the pros and cons and options so they can make the best decision for them."

Should Medicare begin covering end-of-life conversations, it’s likely that private insurance carriers will follow suit, according to the Times.

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