The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2026 Hospice Final Rule (CMS-1835-F) on August 1, 2025. Homecare Homebase has compiled a brief summary of the information found in the final rule, along with links and helpful tools.
CMS 2026 Hospice Final Rule Resources
CMS 2026 Hospice Final Rule – At a Glance
Below is a brief summary with some takeaways from the content of the hospice final rule. The document:
- Estimates the overall economic impact to be $750 million in increased payments to hospices.
- Finalizes a hospice payment update of 2.6%.
- Finalizes updates to the hospice wage index, payment rates, and cap amount ($35,361.44).
- Maintains the 5% cap on wage index decreases and applies it at the county level.
- Finalizes that the physician member of the interdisciplinary group may also recommend admission to hospice care.
- Clarifies that hospice face-to-face encounter attestations must include the signature and date of the signature and adds additional flexibility by allowing a signed and dated clinical note to satisfy the attestation requirement.
- Extends the use of telehealth to conduct a face-to-face encounter for recertification through September 30, 2025.
- Reiterates that HOPE will fully replace HIS beginning October 1, 2025.
- Finalizes that public reporting of HOPE-based measures will begin no earlier than FY 2028.
- Reiterates that providers must switch to the new CMS iQIES data platform for HOPE submissions by October 2025.
HCHB is committed to helping our clients successfully navigate the complexities associated with regulatory and industry changes. Every year, the proposed and final rules for Hospice and Home Health are analyzed by The HCHB Product Management team to plan for needed changes to the software. In addition, HCHB Analytics users receive access to the Hospice Revenue Impact Model. This dashboard reflects the potential effects the final rule may have on a user’s organization.
