July 30, 2026 Washington, DC—Statement from Mollie Gurian, vice president, policy and government affairs, LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit and mission-driven providers of aging services,  including hospice, on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements Final Rule, released July 30, 2026:

“The final rule’s 2.3% payment update, a reduction from the initial proposal, falls short of what providers, including our mission-driven and nonprofit members, need to keep pace with rising costs. Reimbursement that fails to cover the true cost of delivering care and services puts providers’ ability to serve those in need at risk and creates a threat to care access.

While we support CMS’ efforts to increase transparency and strengthen program integrity through effective oversight, we are disappointed that the agency finalized the Hospice Services and Spending Variation Index (SSVI) largely as proposed, despite the detailed comments submitted by us and others in the provider community raising significant concerns about the methodology underlying many of its metrics.

We support greater transparency; it can help beneficiaries identify high-quality hospice providers, including LeadingAge members that are committed to person-centered, compassionate care. However, we remain concerned that non-hospice spending is an inaccurate at best and harmful at worst measure of hospice quality since much of the spending remains outside the control of hospices.

In addition, we are deeply concerned by CMS’ decision to require an addendum for every hospice enrollment. As we stated in our comments, this requirement is unnecessary and duplicative and would increase administrative burden, confuse families, and divert resources away from direct care.

One encouraging aspect of the final rule is CMS’ decision to add an icon on Care Compare identifying hospices that do not submit required quality data. This additional transparency will help patients and families make more informed choices while reinforcing the importance of quality reporting and public accountability across the hospice sector.”