Hospice Attending Physician Services Payment

210.1 - Hospice Attending Physician Services Payment (Rev. 11803; Issued: 01-26-23; Effective: 01-01-23; Implementation: 02-27-23) Medicare beneficiaries who elect the Medicare hospice benefit may choose either an individual physician, NP or PA to serve as their designated attending practitioner (Section 1861(dd) of the Act). Beginning January 1, 2022, under section 132 of the CAA 2021, RHCs and FQHCs are authorized to serve in this role. A physician, NP, or PA who works for an RHC or FQHC may provide hospice attending physician services during a time when he/she is working for the RHC or FQHC (unless prohibited by their RHC or FQHC contract or employment agreement). The RHC or FQHC would bill for these services as they would for any other qualified service to be paid the RHC AIR or the FQHC PPS rate, respectively. A physician, NP, or PA who works for an RHC or FQHC may provide hospice attending services during a time when he/she is not working for the RHC or FQHC (unless prohibited by their RHC or FQHC contract or employment agreement). These services would not be considered RHC or FQHC services and the physician or NP would bill for these services under regular Part B rules using his/her own provider number. Any service provided to a hospice beneficiary by an RHC or FQHC practitioner must comply with Medicare prohibitions on commingling. (See section 100 of this chapter).