October 18, 2023
Medicare Incentivizing Euthenasia
Timothy Birdnow
Hospice patients are being quietly killed as Medicare incentivizes ‘stealth euthanasia’
FTA:
Hospice patients are being quietly killed as Medicare incentivizes ‘stealth euthanasia’
FTA:
A bombshell report was released this year evidencing a scandal that ranks among the worst in its evil: the euthanization of patients for the sake of profit. It made enough of a splash to spur new industry protocols but apparently not enough to stop the entrenched practice of hastening the death of hospice patients.
The November 2022 report, written by Ava Kofman for ProPublica, shows how hospice conditions create what seems to be an irresistible — and ultimately lethal — opportunity for corruption: The industry rakes in massive funds from Medicare, which delivers a flat daily cash benefit, but hospice groups must repay those funds if the average length of stay of all patients exceeds six months.
An investigation cited by Kofman’s article found that half of hospice patients in a random sample were ineligible for some or all of the care they received, a problem consistent with the testimony of hospice whistleblower Marsha Farmer. She told Kofman how her supervisor set "ungodly” quotas for hospice enrollment, and then threatened to fire employees if they didn’t meet those quotas.
Such hospice patients were "ineligible” because they weren’t near death, as Farmer testified from her own experience. This begs the question: If such patients who are not near death are being brought in for Medicare funds, and these funds must be repaid if patient stays run too long, how do these profit-driven hospices keep their cash flow going?
"One tactic was to ‘dump,’ or discharge, patients with overly long stays,” Kofman reported. But some hospices used more sinister methods.
One hospice group in Frisco, Texas was caught by the FBI trying to avoid repayment to Medicare by killing its hospice patients. The hospice owner reportedly instructed staff to overdose patients who were living "too long.” One of his disclosed texts to a nurse read, "He better not make it tomorrow. Or I will blame u.”
Even when patients aren’t "actively” killed, ineligible ones can easily be led to their death, because one of the conditions of hospice is forgoing curative care — care that non-dying patients need to treat illness.
The November 2022 report, written by Ava Kofman for ProPublica, shows how hospice conditions create what seems to be an irresistible — and ultimately lethal — opportunity for corruption: The industry rakes in massive funds from Medicare, which delivers a flat daily cash benefit, but hospice groups must repay those funds if the average length of stay of all patients exceeds six months.
An investigation cited by Kofman’s article found that half of hospice patients in a random sample were ineligible for some or all of the care they received, a problem consistent with the testimony of hospice whistleblower Marsha Farmer. She told Kofman how her supervisor set "ungodly” quotas for hospice enrollment, and then threatened to fire employees if they didn’t meet those quotas.
Such hospice patients were "ineligible” because they weren’t near death, as Farmer testified from her own experience. This begs the question: If such patients who are not near death are being brought in for Medicare funds, and these funds must be repaid if patient stays run too long, how do these profit-driven hospices keep their cash flow going?
"One tactic was to ‘dump,’ or discharge, patients with overly long stays,” Kofman reported. But some hospices used more sinister methods.
One hospice group in Frisco, Texas was caught by the FBI trying to avoid repayment to Medicare by killing its hospice patients. The hospice owner reportedly instructed staff to overdose patients who were living "too long.” One of his disclosed texts to a nurse read, "He better not make it tomorrow. Or I will blame u.”
Even when patients aren’t "actively” killed, ineligible ones can easily be led to their death, because one of the conditions of hospice is forgoing curative care — care that non-dying patients need to treat illness.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
09:34 AM
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