Medicare Program; FY 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements
Key claim: CMS finalizes the FY 2027 hospice wage index, payment rates, and aggregate cap, requires hospices to give the election statement addendum to all Medicare beneficiaries at election, and updates Hospice Quality Reporting Program and related discharge/face-to-face rules.
Abstract
(Rule · Health and Human Services Department, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) This final rule updates the hospice wage index, payment rates, and aggregate cap amount for fiscal year 2027. This final rule also includes an analysis of Medicare non-hospice spending, including details regarding a hospice service and spending variation index, and finalizes the requirement that hospices provide the hospice election statement addendum to all Medicare beneficiaries at the time of hospice election. Additionally, this rule finalizes conforming changes to discharge from hospice care regulations and changes to the face-to-face encounter regulations. This final rule also includes a summary of comments received on our requests for information regarding community- based palliative care; the construction of a hospice specific wage index; and the overlap between hospice and medical aid in dying laws. Finally, this rule finalizes changes to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program.
Why this matters
The FY 2027 hospice final rule sets the Medicare payment rates and aggregate cap that determine what hospice providers receive for care, directly shaping the economics of end-of-life care delivery. The universal election statement addendum requirement means all Medicare hospice patients—not just those who request it—will receive written notice of conditions and items the hospice deems unrelated to the terminal diagnosis, potentially clarifying what falls outside the hospice benefit and remains billable elsewhere. HQRP and face-to-face/discharge tweaks are incremental operational changes for hospice providers rather than shifts in beneficiary coverage.