Hospice of Humboldt is located at 3327 Timber Fall Court in Eureka. | Submitted.

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Yesterday, the Outpost published a CalMatters story about a recent wave of billing fraud, particularly in Southern California, in which fake or low-quality hospice operators are defrauding Medicare at the expense of both patients and taxpayers.

Fortunately, the local community is served by the highly regarded Hospice of Humboldt, which provides comprehensive end-of-life care, palliative care and bereavement services from its picturesque campus at 3327 Timber Fall Court in Eureka as well as out in the community. 

Nevertheless, employees of our local hospice have been fielding questions from the public, especially donors, about whether and how this fraud could impact Hospice of Humboldt.

In a phone interview this morning,  CEO Dianne Keating said the best tool to differentiate between a quality organization like Hospice of Humboldt and an exploitative or phony one is the Medicare Care Compare website. Operated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the site allows patients, families and caregivers to search for and compare Medicare-certified healthcare providers, including hospices.

“Hospice of Humboldt does an amazing job providing end-of-life care,” Keating said. “I mean, we have an amazing Hospice House, incredible palliative care program, and we do whatever it takes to meet patients and families where they are and serve them. But we don’t want to get entangled in this southern LA County challenge, because we’re nothing like that.”

Rep. Jared Huffman also offered his appreciation and support for our region’s hospice organizations.

“End-of-life care is a deeply personal and important experience, and families deserve to know their loved ones are in good hands,” Huffman said in a prepared statement. “I’m grateful the majority of hospice care centers in our region provide top-quality services for communities on the North Coast. I encourage constituents to use the federal government’s website to confirm that your local provider is above board and applying the best care.”

On the Medicare Care Compare site you can:

  • Search local hospice providers by ZIP code or city
  • Confirm whether a hospice is medicare-certified
  • Compare hospices side-by-side
  • Review quality scores and performance data
  • See family/caregiver satisfaction results from surveys
  • View contact information and service areas

Here’s the link again.

Keating encouraged anyone with questions to contact Hospice of Humboldt. 

“I’m happy to answer any questions [and] give anybody a tour,” she said. “I mean, if they come and see our facility and talk about our services, they’ll understand that we put everything back into our mission, and we are a completely mission-driven organization.”