Hospice & Home Health News 2026May22

CMS’ Home Health and Hospice Moratorium: What Nonprofit Providers Need to Know

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a moratorium on enrollment of new home health and hospice agencies. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026 had language that prohibited hospices from using telehealth for face to face recertifications during a moratorium. CMS said in frequently asked questions (FAQs) published at the time of the announcement that hospices could continue to use telehealth for the face to face recertification during the moratorium, but did not provide further details on their legal analysis or how they were instructing their contractors at this time. This six-month effort is intended to prevent new bad actors from entering Medicare while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services takes action to identify, investigate, and remove those already exploiting the system. Read LeadingAge's analysis regarding what non-profit, mission-driven agencies can expect here. Our press release on the announcement can be found here.

Representative Van Duyne (R-TX) Introduces Hospice and Home Health Oversight Bill.

On May 19, Representative Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) introduced the "Protecting Seniors and Stopping Fraudsters Act." The bill contains the following provisions:



a.      Increased survey frequency for newly enrolled hospices and home health agencies, providers with ownership changes, or providers displaying signs of fraudulent behavior. 

b.      Revalidation requirements for all agencies in areas under a provisional period of enhanced oversight

c.      Enhanced screening requirements for providers deemed at “extreme risk” of fraud (which include providers in areas where there has been aberrant year over year growth or at other factors at the discretion of the Secretary), including fingerprinting administrators and medical directors and requiring proof of liability insurance.

d.      A 15% payment penalty for non-submission of quality reporting data (currently, the penalty is 4% for hospice and 2% for home health)

e.      Greater accountability for accrediting organizations through standardized survey training requirements.

f.       New beneficiary notification requirements to ensure seniors know when they have been enrolled in hospice and understand how to disenroll if fraud or abuse occurs.

g.      Annual reporting to Congress on CMS program integrity activities, enforcement actions, fraud trends, and efforts to reduce unnecessary administrative burden on legitimate providers.

LeadingAge supports this bill though believes more can be done to support high quality providers and further distinguish oversight activities for them from those committing fraud, waste, and abuse.

Here is your weekly  Home Health Weekly Recap from National.

Here is your weekly  Hospice Weekly Recap from National.