On July 31, CMS released the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update, which updates hospice payment rates, the wage index, and the aggregate cap amount, with an estimated $755 million increase in Medicare hospice payments for FY 2027.
In this year’s final rule, CMS finalized requirements for hospices to provide the hospice election statement addendum to all Medicare beneficiaries who elect hospice. CMS updated hospice discharge policy to expand the list of clinicians permitted to discharge patients from hospice and extended telehealth face-to-face encounters for a patient’s hospice recertification through December 31, 2027. In addition, CMS will publicly release updated provider level summary data files under the Service and Spending Variation Index (SSVI), a claims-based scoring system intended to support transparency and oversight for non-hospice spending, beginning with FY 2024 and 2025.
This final rule summarizes feedback on community-based palliative care and medical aid in dying, and updates the Hospice Quality Reporting Program, including adding a data submission icon to the Medicare.gov Care Compare tool.
Effective October 1, 2026.