By Hannah W. Wever

Published: April 17, 2008

To the editor,
The organization I work for, Hospice of the Rapidan, has been the leading provider of compassionate and dignified end-of-life care for terminally ill patients and their families in Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock counties for almost 25 years. It has always been our policy to provide the best possible care and to never turn away any patient because he or she cannot afford our care. We have been able to live up to both these commitments because historically the amount we have been paid by Medicare, which covers over 85 percent of all hospice patients, has been reasonable.
In recent years Congress has reduced the amount hospices are reimbursed for the care we provide. For example, in Culpeper County where we are based, the amount we receive today is more than 13 percent lower than it was in 2005. Now President Bush has proposed a budget that cuts hospice rates even more, seriously threatening the ability of dying patients to get the care they need when it counts the most.
This policy is seriously flawed. Hospice is already the most cost-effective end-of-life care delivery system for our nation’s most vulnerable population. The fact is that hospice saves Medicare over $2.5 billion annually! According to a recent study by Duke University, hospice has reduced Medicare costs by an average of over $2,300 per patient. The study concludes that: “Given that hospice has been widely demonstrated to improve the quality of life of patients and families… the Medicare program appears to have a rare situation whereby something that improves quality of life also appears to reduce costs.” Two successive Medicare Administrators agreed and encouraged expansion of hospice availability to Medicare beneficiaries, which the administration is now trying to reverse with its budget proposal.
The administration’s proposed budget will undermine both the quality and availability of high quality hospice care in our area. I encourage readers of the Orange County Review to keep the best interests of their terminally ill constituents in mind when these issues come before them. Please urge them to oppose any bill that includes a reduction in Medicare hospice reimbursement rates.
Nancy Walbridge
Community Relations Director
Hospice of the Rapidan