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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August 5, 202633 min
Courtside Seats: Federal Courts Call Foul on Administrative Law Judges
CMS’s efforts to crush fraud in the hospice space have commanded the headlines and the attention of many. Less publicized efforts on behalf of hospices in the federal courts, however, have resulted in several rulings favoring hospices. In particular, the federal courts are starting to recognize that hospices deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to prognosticating a six-month life expectancy. In this episode, Bryan Nowicki talks with Joe Diedrich and Zaina Niles about those court cases and what they mean for the hospice community.
July 15, 202631 min
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.
June 17, 202621 min
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
May 27, 202617 min
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.
May 6, 202614 min
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.
April 15, 202623 min
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.
March 25, 202623 min
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.
March 11, 202624 min
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.
February 25, 202656 min
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.
February 4, 202658 min
Reimagining How We Navigate Change and Loss: A Conversation with Sonya Dolan and Bridget Sumser of Mettle Health
Welcome to a very special podcast! It’s special for many reasons. First, as a longtime admirer of Mettle Health’s visionary work supporting people through change and loss, Meg Pekarske was elated when co-founder Sonya Dolan and counselor Bridget Sumser said yes to being on the podcast. Second, a discussion of how we face endings seems fitting for Meg’s last episode as host of the Hospice Insights podcast. Endings, whether a result of a diagnosis, aging, or other life changes, raise big questions related to identity, purpose, and meaning. Mettle Health offers emotional accompaniment for patients and caregivers working through not only the existential but practical questions brought about by illness, disability, and aging. The organization fills an essential gap left in our fragmented healthcare system. In this passionate and compassionate conversation, we explore how Mettle Health’s unique model of care works, the advantages and challenges of running a largely “direct to consumer” healthcare business, how generational shifts may impact how we confront the challenges of serious illness in the future, the role and limits of technology in providing meaningful support and much more. We’re confident the Hospice Insights podcast will live on in the capable hands of longtime colleague and frequent guest Bryan Nowicki . He will do an outstanding job, and Meg will still be around and looks forward to being a guest a time or two. She started this podcast more than six years ago as a way to connect and provide support to our colleagues and partners. Thanks as always for your loyal support! For more information on the innovative work of Mettle Health, check out their website .
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