Meeting on Hospice Certificate of Need (CON) Reform

LeadingAge New York and other stakeholders met with the Department of Health (DOH) to discuss the current need methodology from the 1980s and what it should capture going forward. As a result of this current methodology, no need has been demonstrated since 2004, but what has been experienced is existing hospices are servicing two or three times what was originally calculated for their area.

The Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State (HPCANYS) and their consultants Hospice Analytics from Colorado presented, "Certificate of Need -White Paper" and a CON summary from 16 states. They provided an overview of unique challenges and concerns for New York hospices and three pages of recommendations.

One overriding concern expressed by several stakeholders is what should the CON methodology be in the new payment system of managed care and the merging of health systems.

DOH will be providing a summary of this stakeholders meeting and bring the issues and concerns to the Public Health and Health Planning Council (PHHPC) in Spring 2014.

Contact: Cheryl Udell; cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871