Why so few patients access palliative care, and how Empassion is addressing that | Robin Heffernan (Empassion)

Hospice and palliative care remain widely misunderstood and underused, leading many seriously ill patients in their final year of life to endure unmanaged symptoms, little advance care planning, and avoidable ER visits and hospitalizations. 

Empassion CEO, Robin Heffernan, explains supportive care, distinguishing palliative care (any stage) from hospice (typically the last six months), and describes Empassion's model: contracting with payers so care is free to patients, curating a nationwide network of in-home providers, and using technology to coordinate care across teams in 45 states.

The conversation covers large quality variation across 5,000+ hospice agencies, Empassion Assured as a near-real-time CMS-metrics resource to identify good vs bad actors, and why hospice fraud persists given fast access and payment rules. 

Robin also discusses hospice being carved out of Medicare Advantage, why carving it in could improve oversight, and lessons from prior CMS efforts.

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