April 3 2026
OASIS Answers
Categories: HQRP

CMS Posts the Hospice FY 2027 Proposed Rule

by Megan Bernier, MSPT RAC-CT COS-C

On April 2, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the proposed hospice rule for fiscal year (FY) 2027, which would update Medicare hospice payments and the aggregate cap amount for FY 2027 in accordance with existing statutory and regulatory requirements.

The rule proposals include, but are not limited to, the following:

An update of the hospice payment rate by 2.4%
Changes to the hospice election statement regulations by proposing to require the addendum to be mandatory, not just upon request, for all Medicare beneficiaries at the time of hospice election.
Conforming regulation text changes to allow a physician designee and the physician member of the interdisciplinary group, in addition to the hospice medical director, to discharge a patient from hospice care.
Conforming regulation text changes to the hospice telehealth face-to-face policy in accordance with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026.

There are also requests for information on enhancing community palliative care services under current Medicare benefits; the development of a hospice-specific wage index using BLS data; and information regarding the overlap between hospice and medical aid in dying (MAID).

Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) Proposals

Due to ongoing concerns related to the number of hospices not meeting the HQRP reporting requirements, CMS has also proposed the addition of an icon on the Medicare.gov Compare Tool that would identify hospices who fail to submit any data or who submit less than the required 90% of quality data.

CMS is proposing to add the icon to the Medicare.gov Compare Tool no earlier than FY 2028 (October 1, 2027) to align with the addition of HOPE data to the Medicare.gov site, and the data will be based on CY 2026 APU submission data received from January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026.

The unpublished proposed rule can be found here: Federal Register :: Public Inspection: Medicare Program: Fiscal Year 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements.

Comments on the proposed rule may be submitted electronically, or can be mailed and are due by June 1, 2026.

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