Updates and Insights

The latest news, stories, and perspectives from Empassion

Empassion Health's Approach to Home-Based Serious Illness Care

Company generated nearly $60 million in net Medicare savings in the most recent yearly data from the high-needs ACO REACH program

Empassion Yields $60M in Cost Savings VIA ACO REACH

Empassion Health helped generate nearly $60 million in net Medicare cost savings in 2024 through its participation in the high-needs track of the Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access and Community Health (ACO REACH) program.

The $60 Million Dividend: How Home-Based Care is Healing Medicare

In the relentless battle against rising healthcare costs, a figure like $60 million in savings for Medicare is more than a rounding error—it’s a signal. Empassion Health, a managed-care provider specializing in serious illness, announced today it had generated nearly that amount in net savings for the federal program in 2024.

WTWH Healthcare Announces the Future Leaders Class of 2026

The Future Leaders Awards program honors exceptional professionals aged 40 and under who are shaping the future of aging and healthcare. Honorees represent a wide range of sectors, including ambulatory surgery centers, behavioral health, complex rehab technology (CRT), home health & home care, home medical equipment (HME), hospice & palliative care, senior housing & senior living, and skilled nursing.

Moratorium a ‘Sledgehammer’ Approach in Hospice Fraud Forcefield

A temporary national moratorium has halted new hospice and home health enrollment in an effort to curb fraudulent activity in these industries. The hospice community has come forward in droves to examine the scope of potential benefits, and risks, to future access and quality.

Empassion, Karoo Health Partner on Cardiac-to-Hospice Transitions

Empassion Health and Karoo Health have unveiled a strategic partnership designed to provide a more seamless transition for patients from cardiac management to specialized serious illness care.

After CBS Exposes Hospice Fraud, Empassion CEO Calls for Five Priority Guardrails to Protect Patients

As federal scrutiny intensifies, leading hospice executive Robin Heffernan has outlined stronger oversight and public-private alignment to build a more vetted, trusted, and transparent hospice system

Empassion Health and Karoo Health Partner to Support Patients with Advanced Heart Disease and Other Serious Illness

The partnership brings together two organizations with deep expertise in different stages of complex illness. Together, the organizations create a clear and seamless transition for patients as their needs evolve from cardiac management to specialized serious illness care.

Red flags in hospice care: Protecting patients — and medical practices — from fraud

What physicians need to know about shifting hospice trends, referral risks and protecting vulnerable patients at end of life

Empassion CEO Robin Heffernan: Palliative Care Significantly Impacts Payer Star Ratings

Palliative care can have a significant impact on payer’s star ratings from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Empassion network launches certification program to identify high-quality hospices

McKnights Home Care covers Empassion Assured, the free program available to all hospices that aims to independently evaluate and consistently validate hospice providers meeting quality benchmarks and demonstrating ongoing excellence.

Empassion Assured: First-of-Its-Kind Independent Certification Unveiled Today to Protect Vulnerable Hospice Patients, and Support Medicare and Other Payers

Medicare hospice fraud cost the US a reported $3.4 billion in bogus claims in FY 2023. Now, a new standard introduces transparent, continuous, real-world quality validation to hospice care

More Good Days: How Empassion Fixes Palliative Care Access

Dr. Jared Dashevsky highlights Empassion’s differentiated and durable model on Healthcare Huddle

Hospice, Palliative Care Services Yield High Quality, Cost Savings

A recent study by Empassion Health examined 45,957 seriously ill patients receiving supportive care through the organization from January 2023 to April 2025. The study found a 35% reduction in total cost of care per patient during the final year of life when compared to other individuals…

Empassion Achieves $34 Million in Savings in Novel Medicare Program Serving High Needs Patients

Empassion achieved total gross savings of $34.1m in the High Needs Population Track of ACO REACH for Performance Year 2023 while managing a record number of lives – nearly 9,000 across 35 states – in total cost-of care arrangements. This includes…

Why Network Adequacy Alone Is Not Enough in Serious Illness Care

For decades, network adequacy has served as the baseline metric for healthcare access. The premise is simple: ensure patients have reasonable access to the providers and services they need across geographic regions and clinical specialties.

How Health Plans Can Evaluate Quality in Serious Illness Care

In a recent article, we explored why health plans increasingly partner with specialized organizations to support members living with serious illness. From a purely operational standpoint, the rationale is clear: traditional healthcare infrastructure simply wasn’t built to scale the proactive symptom management, advance care planning, and longitudinal, cross-setting support these patients and their families require.

Why Health Plans Partner for Serious Illness Care Instead of Building It Alone

Serious illness management exposes critical gaps in traditional healthcare delivery — gaps that fee-for-service models were never designed to solve.

How to Choose Hospice Care: A Clinician’s Guide for Patients and Families

Recent coverage, including reporting from the Los Angeles Times, has highlighted a difficult truth: while many hospice providers deliver exceptional care, quality varies and it’s not always easy to tell the difference.

Op-Ed from Robin Heffernan | Not just California: A national hospice ‘Blue Book’ is needed to fight fraud

Congress has finally decided to wade into the deep waters of hospice fraud. That is a good thing. But what members need to know is that this problem is not new, and it is not confined to one state. What’s more, enforcement alone will not solve it — what is desperately needed is more prevention.

CMS Is Finally Tackling Hospice Fraud. The Next Step Is Actually Preventing It.

CMS is taking new steps to address hospice fraud through provider scoring and transparency. Robin Heffernan explains why real-time hospice quality data is needed to prevent harm before it occurs.

Why Disease-Based Care Falls Short for Patients with Serious Illness

Serious illness is a distinct clinical state with its own drivers of cost and utilization, but plans have historically kept these patients aligned to disease-based clinical programs. Now that serious illness management has emerged as a new category of care, plans should re-think disease-based program attribution and enable the transition of these patients to a serious illness manager as their functional status declines.

Hospice Fraud and Oversight: What Needs to Change

A recent investigation by CBS News uncovered hundreds of hospice providers in Los Angeles showing warning signs associated with potential fraud and abuse.

Why Community-Based Care is Key to Hospice Access and Equity

Community-based palliative and hospice care can improve access, build trust, and reduce disparities in serious illness care across diverse communities.

Rural Markets Are a Stress Test for Medicare Advantage. Palliative Care Is Part of the Answer.

Once a growth opportunity in Medicare Advantage, rural markets now quickly expose weaknesses in payer cost management capabilities. Palliative care, when designed and delivered thoughtfully, is one of the few care models structurally capable of stabilizing utilization in rural markets, where volatility is highest…

Why Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Make Palliative Care Mission Critical

Star Ratings have become a multi-millon dollar financial opportunity for Medicare Advantage plans and in this environment, palliative care has emerged as a reliable and scalable lever with real influence over the highest weight measures…

Why So Few Patients Access Palliative Care, and How Empassion is Addressing That | Robin Heffernan (Empassion)

Empassion CEO, Robin Heffernan, explains supportive care, distinguishing palliative care (any stage) from hospice (typically the last six months), and describes Empassion’s model: contracting with payers so care is free to patients, curating a nationwide network of in-home providers, and using technology to coordinate care across teams in 46 states.

Carve-In or Carve-Out? The Future of Hospice Under Medicare Advantage | Part Two

Chris Comeaux and Robin Heffernan unpack the complex realities shaping the future of hospice under Medicare Advantage.

Carve-In or Carve-Out? The Future of Hospice Under Medicare Advantage | Part One

Chris Comeaux and Robin Heffernan explore the evolving intersection of private equity, artificial intelligence, and end-of-life care—raising critical questions about accountability, quality, and the future of hospice under Medicare Advantage.

Empassion CEO Robin Heffernan to hospice providers: ‘Lean in’ to possibility of MA hospice carve-in

Empassion CEO Robin Heffernan joins McKnights Home Care’s Liza Berger to discuss Empassion Assured, Empassion’s new hospice certification that aims to separate the high-quality hospices from the rest.

Measures That Matter: How Better Metrics Can Transform End of Life Care – Part 2

In Part 2, Empassion Co-Founder and CEO Robin Heffernan joins TCN talks to explore explore how focused, meaningful metrics—not check-the-box measures—can improve quality, reduce unnecessary hospitalizations, and strengthen value-based end-of-life care.

Measures That Matter: How Better Metrics Can Transform End of Life Care – Part 1

In Part 1, Empassion Co-Founder and CEO Robin Heffernan joins TCN talks to explore why fewer, clearer quality measures are essential for reducing variability, improving patient outcomes, and supporting value-based care at the end of life.

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