Hospice is a program of care and support for people who are terminally ill.  Hospice is a growth industry controlled by for-profit companies earning $17 billion a year, $15 million of which are Medicare reimbursements.

“The proportion of patients who were discharged alive from hospice care rose about 50 percent between 2002 and 2012, according to a Post analysis of more than 1 million hospice patients’ records over 11 years in California. California was chosen for the review because its hospice records are detailed and, by virtue of its size, offers a portrait of the industry. The average length of a stay in hospice care jumped substantially, and profit per patient quintupled, to $1,975.

Recruiting unqualified patients for hospice care, including those who are not really dying, is costing Medicare billions of dollars. The full article is here.

More information for whistleblowers is located at the Nolan Auerbach & White website.