Hospice Insights: The Law and Beyond

Bryan Nowicki
  • 4.9 (11)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Monthly

Tune in to Husch Blackwell’s hospice podcast with Bryan Nowicki for conversations with industry innovators and fundamentals for navigating hospice law. In our commitment to monitoring updates and fostering learning, each episode delivers essential information clients need for best solutions in this changing healthcare sector.

  1. 1d ago

    Know What You Owe: HIPAA and Third-Party Requests for Patient Records in Hospice

    Hospice providers are no strangers to sensitive patient situations, but a subpoena or other third-party request for patient records can quickly raise complex legal and compliance challenges. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Bryan Nowicki and Taylor Crossley provide a practical roadmap for navigating those requests. They discuss the HIPAA framework governing legal process disclosures, the types of demands hospice providers often encounter, and how state privacy laws can affect the analysis—and offer guidance for avoiding common compliance pitfalls when responding to requests for patient information.

  2. Jun 17

    The New 60-Day Repayment Rule: What’s New? What’s the Same? What Does It Mean?

    CMS revised the Medicare 60-Day Repayment Rule, changing how overpayments are identified. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Bryan Nowicki and Andrew Brenton analyze this change and how it affects the time frames applicable to internal investigations and repayment obligations. They also introduce a handy one-page summary of key deadlines. Additional resources: 60-Day Repayment Rule

  3. May 27

    Bottom Line, Top of Mind: Compliance Checklists for Hospice and Home Health

    In hospice and home health, certain compliance problems can have a big impact on the organization’s bottom line—and ability to keep operating. Even seemingly minor issues can affect whether the organization will be fully paid for services it provided, subject to financial penalties, or even barred from participating in a payment program. To help home health agencies and hospices spot and prevent these problems, Husch Blackwell has created checklists of top compliance issues for hospice and home health, plus template spreadsheets for prioritizing and addressing each. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Bryan Nowicki, Andrew Brenton, and Josi Wergin discuss these tools and how you can use them. Get the Hospice and Home Health Compliance Checklists Access Husch Blackwell’s hospice and home health compliance checklists by emailing alyssa.bukolt@huschblackwell.com.

  4. May 6

    Hospice Audit Updates: UPICs May Pick You for a Prepayment Review

    Hospice providers remain under heavy scrutiny, with prepayment audit and other audit activity on the rise. Unified Program Integrity Contractors (UPICs) historically conducted post-payment reviews. However, over the last six months, they have joined Medicare Administrative Contractors in reviewing claims on a prepayment basis. In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Bryan Nowicki and Zaina Niles discuss this new type of UPIC audit and what your hospice can expect if a UPIC picks you.

  5. Apr 15

    High Risk Hospices Are in the Hot Seat Across Six States

    Since September 2024, CMS’s Medicare Administrative Contractors have been conducting expanded prepayment reviews (also known as “EPRs” or targeted high-risk reviews) of existing hospice providers in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas. As of December 2025, hospices in Georgia and Ohio are also under the microscope. In this episode, Husch Blackwell attorneys Bryan Nowicki and Zaina Niles discuss how hospices can differentiate between EPRs and other audit types. You’ll also learn what to expect throughout the EPR process and strategies to overcome claim denials and other possible EPR consequences.

  6. Mar 25

    What’s New? CMS Provisional Period of Enhanced Oversight Application to “New” Hospices

    Since July 13, 2023, CMS has applied a Provisional Period of Enhanced Oversight (PPEO) to “new” hospice providers in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas. On December 30, 2025, CMS announced it was expanding PPEO to Georgia and Ohio. In this episode, Husch Blackwell attorneys Bryan Nowicki and Adam Royal discuss how these changes impact new (and not-so-new) hospice providers.

  7. Mar 11

    PPEO Playbook: The High-Stakes Game Hospices Can’t Afford to Lose

    In this episode, Husch Blackwell’s Claire Postman joins host Bryan Nowicki to discuss CMS’s provisional period of enhanced oversight (PPEO) program that has now expanded to six states. From the basics to the fallout, they unpack who is subject to PPEO, what it involves, and how to avoid and handle the worst-case consequences of a PPEO gone awry.

  8. Feb 25

    Endings and Beginnings: Reflections on Meg Pekarske’s 25+ Years as a Hospice Advocate

    Meg Pekarske has dedicated her professional life to the hospice community. In this episode, Bryan Nowicki interviews her about her years as a hospice attorney. Meg reflects on the characteristics of successful hospices and hospice leaders, current challenges, and why hospices should have hope for the future.

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4.9
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Tune in to Husch Blackwell’s hospice podcast with Bryan Nowicki for conversations with industry innovators and fundamentals for navigating hospice law. In our commitment to monitoring updates and fostering learning, each episode delivers essential information clients need for best solutions in this changing healthcare sector.

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