title: Demystifying the role of nurse practitioners in hospice: nurse practitioners as an integral part of the hospice plan of care.
abstract: Beginning January 1, 2011, as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act healthcare-reform law that was signed in March 2010, Medicare requires that all patients entering their third or later hospice benefit period must have a face-to-face encounter with a hospice physician or nurse practitioner (NP) to validate hospice eligibility. Medicare has allowed NPs to function as a patient's hospice attending physician since 2003, but they may not certify or recertify a patient's terminal illness or function in the role of the hospice physician in the hospice interdisciplinary team. The allowance of Medicare for the NP to complete the hospice face-to-face encounter allows a greater role for a NP in the realm of hospice care.
authors.affiliation: National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, USA. jkennedy@nhpco.org
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kennedy
mesh_terms: D017051:Hospice Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D006738:Hospices / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000458:organization & administration; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce