On May 28, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Center for Clinical Standards and Quality issued a new memo regarding changes to the hospice conditions of participation (CoPs). The changes focus on the hospice interdisciplinary group (IDG), care planning, and coordination of services CoP at 42 CFR 418.56 which was updated to require that the IDG must include at least a social worker (SW), MFT, or MHC. It does clarify that hospices are not required to include all three of these professions as members of the IDG and may choose (though is not required) to select more than one of these professions to serve as member(s) of the IDG. The definitions of the MFT and MHC disciplines (as defined at 42 CFR 410.53 and 410.54, respectively) have also been added to the hospice personnel qualifications CoP at 42 CFR 418.114(b).
