Hospice & Home Health News 2026May07

CMS Posts HQRP Forum Recording and Materials

On February 26, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted an HQRP Forum entitled HOPE for the Future. Providers can now access the materials including the slides, transcript, and the recorded video in the Downloads section on the Provider and Stakeholder Engagement | CMS webpage. During the discussion CMS reviewed a series of Q&As of common questions raised with CMS including questions around medications and symptom follow up visit timing, and coding expectations for principle diagnosis, comorbidities, and General Inpatient coding. LeadingAge was pleased to see these clarifications and will continue to seek their incorporation into the HOPE guidance documents.

Home Health April Care Compare Refresh Now Live! 

The April 2026 refresh of the Home Health Quality Reporting Program is now available on the compare tool on Medicare.gov and Provider Data Catalog (PDC). LeadingAge has also updated the members-only reports which ensure members have relevant data that can help assess quality measures in various contexts (historical or in comparison to local competitors, for instance). The April 2026 refresh includes the removal of one OASIS-based measure, COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients Who Are Up to Date. The data for the April 2026 update are based on quality assessment data submitted by home health agencies (HHAs) to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from Quarter 3, 2024 through Quarter 2, 2025. The data for the claims-based measures will display data from Quarter 1, 2023 through Quarter 4, 2024 for the Discharge to Community and Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary measures, Quarter 1, 2022 through Quarter 4, 2024 for the Potentially Preventable 30-Day Post-Discharge Readmission measure, and Quarter 1, 2024 through Quarter 4, 2024 for the Home Health Within-Stay Potentially Preventable Hospitalization measure. Additionally, the data for the HHCAHPS measures will display data from Quarter 4, 2024 through Quarter 3, 2025.

FY2027 Hospice Rule LeadingAge Member Meetings

In order to provide adequate time for LeadingAge member feedback on the proposals in the FY2027 Hospice Rule we are offering three different sessions focused on specific topics. We encourage members to engage staff including CFOs, palliative care teams, and compliance and quality managers.

• Tuesday, May 12, 2 p.m. ET – Hospice Member Network: During this meeting, members will discuss the payment update for FY2026, the request for information on hospice wage index changes, the establishment of G-Codes for telehealth face-to-face.
• Wednesday, May 13, 2 p.m. ET – Special Palliative Care Provider Meeting: During this meeting, members will discuss the request for information on community-based palliative care. Members who have Part B billing practices for palliative care as well as home health agencies supporting palliative care are encouraged to join and share their perspectives of current billing and quality challenges.
• Friday, May 15, 11 a.m. ET – Reschedule Hospice Quality and Compliance Workgroup: During this meeting, members will review the Services and Spending Variation Index in detail as well as the proposal to require an election addendum for every patient. We will also discuss the proposed Care Compare Icon for non-compliance with the Hospice Quality Reporting Program.



Here is your weekly  Home Health Weekly Recap from National.

Here is your weekly  Hospice Weekly Recap from National.