Increasing audit activity combined with certain decreasingly favorable audit appeal outcomes has resulted in hospices appealing audit results beyond the administrative law judge phase and into federal court. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske and Bryan Nowicki discuss the circumstances that gave rise to hospices taking their cases to federal court, how those cases are playing out, and what the future looks like.

Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske is joined by Dina Yankelewitz, CEO of Vitalis Care, a technology company that is harnessing AI technology to reduce staff burden and allow more time for patient care. Dina shares her vision and passion for the hospice space, discussing how she applied her background in education and learning methods to inform not only what tools to develop but importantly how they work for the end user. Dina and Meg explore what AI is good at as well as its limits and why scheduling optimization, compliance, and reimbursement were the first areas Vitalis tackled. Dina shares her thoughts on what may be next for AI in the home care space, the hurdles she sees to adoption and change, and the opportunities for technology to enhance care, boost staff engagement, and give us all more time to do the work that is most meaningful.

Vitalis was built to solve the challenges hospices face every day — from missed units and clunky schedules to mileage fraud, billing gaps, and compliance headaches. Their tools help hospices predict end-of-life with improved accuracy; generate efficient, patient-centered schedules; track every mile with GPS-backed clarity; and simplify compliance with documentation support. To learn more about Vitalis Care visit their website at https://vitaliscare.ai/.

In an audit, election statement deficiencies can be costly. Auditors deny all claims covered by the problematic election statement, and those costs can multiply if more than one patient was affected. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Meg Pekarske, Bryan Nowicki, and Josi Wergin discuss common reasons auditors give for denying claims based on election statement deficiencies, and how hospices can improve their election statements to try to avoid them.