Washington, D.C. — The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) welcomed leadership from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday to Nathan Adelson Hospice, Las Vegas, as part of an on-the-ground listening tour focused on hospice program integrity and the real-world challenges facing patients, families, and nonprofit providers.
As part of the visit, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of CMS, Kimberly Brandt, CMS Chief Operating Officer, and Chris Klomp, Director of the Center for Medicare met with hospice clinicians, staff, community stakeholders, and NPHI leadership to hear local patient and provider stories that illustrate broader national concerns related to fraud, waste, and abuse in hospice care.
Nathan Adelson Hospice staff, led by interim Executive Director and President of Chapters Health West, Karen Rubel, shared real-world examples of how fraudulent and abusive practices undermine patient trust, strain legitimate providers, and threaten access to high-quality end-of-life care for families who need it most. CMS leaders engaged deeply, asking thoughtful and probing questions to ensure they fully understood both the operational realities on the ground and the policy implications at the federal level.
NPHI leadership emphasized immediate, actionable steps CMS can take to strengthen program integrity, including focusing audits and oversight on behaviors most indicative of abuse, rather than placing unnecessary burdens on high-performing mission-driven providers. Discussions also addressed broader hospice benefit reform, including how aspects of the current benefit structure can unintentionally invite fraud and how targeted policy changes could better protect patients, families, and taxpayer dollars.
“We commend the Administration for taking decisive action to confront fraud, waste, and abuse in hospice care and for recognizing that strong program integrity is essential to ensuring patients and families receive the highest standard of care at one of the most vulnerable moments in their lives,” said Tom Koutsoumpas, Founder and CEO of NPHI. “By coming boots on the ground to see care delivered by a trusted nonprofit provider, CMS leadership is sending a clear message that protecting quality and access is the priority.”
“It was incredibly meaningful to welcome CMS leadership to Nathan Adelson Hospice, where they could hear directly from frontline staff and see the difference high-quality, nonprofit hospice care makes for patients and families,” said Carole Fisher, President of NPHI and former President and CEO of Nathan Adelson Hospice. “Helping CMS fully understand the unique value nonprofit providers bring to the healthcare system — and why that value must be protected — is central to NPHI’s mission.”
“Today’s conversation allowed us to move beyond theory and talk concretely about what providers are seeing every day,” said Ethan McChesney, NPHI Senior Policy Director. “We are encouraged by the Administration’s engagement and openness as we discussed practical, near-term steps CMS can take to better target abusive behavior while allowing legitimate providers to remain focused on delivering compassionate, high-quality care.”
NPHI expresses its gratitude to CMS leadership for taking the time to travel to Las Vegas and engage directly with one of Nevada’s most respected hospice providers. The organization emphasized that bringing federal policymakers into care settings is critical to ensuring oversight strategies are informed by real-world experience and aligned with the needs of patients and families to preserve access to high-quality hospice care.
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