Literature Review

Hospice Insights Podcast - high risk hospices are in the hot seat across six states JD Supra; podcast by Husch Blackwell, LLP; 4/15/26 Since September 2024, CMS’s Medicare Administrative Contractors have been conducting expanded prepayment reviews (also known as “EPRs” or targeted high-risk reviews) of existing hospice providers in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas. As of December 2025, hospices in Georgia and Ohio are also under the microscope. In this episode, Husch Blackwell attorneys Bryan Nowicki and Zaina Niles discuss how hospices can differentiate between EPRs and other audit types. You’ll also learn what to expect throughout the EPR process and strategies to overcome claim denials and other possible EPR consequences.

Build a real workplace violence committee. Not just a checkbox. Download 9 ready-to-use templates to launch your program.pomsafe - Compliance Resource; by pomsafe; 4/15/26 Built for the filed, not the facility. Most WPV resources are designed for hospitals, buildings, and fixed locations. This kit was built from the ground up for organizations whose staff work in homes, communities, and the field, where the risk environment looks completely different. Built for teams in home health and hospice; ... any organization sending caregivers into patient homes or the community.

Owatonna, Mankato Hospice Supplement Program & caregiver jobs plan launched Marketers Media / NewsNetwork, Owatonna, MN; Press Release; 4/14/26 Freedom Home Care, LLC, in southern Minnesota, announced the update and expansion of its Hospice Care Supplement Program. ... It delivers 24/7 supplemental care, including overnight and live-in options, to cover times when family members or hospice teams are unavailable. Services go beyond medical support to include household assistance such as meal preparation, light housekeeping, companionship, supervision, assistance with transfers and repositioning, and personalized one-on-one attention—ensuring patients are never alone while families can rest, focus on quality time, and avoid burnout. More information at: https://freedomhomecarellc.com/services/hospice-care/

Accreditation: moving forward during the moratorium HME News - Business News for Home Medical Equipment Providers; by Sandra Canally; 4/13/26 ... Hospice contracts: Hospice providers are required to contract only with accredited DMEPOS suppliers to equip terminally ill patients whether at the hospice facility, in a nursing home or at home. The supply opportunities closely mirror those in skilled nursing, with enteral nutrition, mobility aids and respiratory equipment all in demand. Hospice covers 100% of DME costs related to the terminal illness. [To DME companies:] Invoice the hospice organization directly, and they pay you. Medicare stays out of the transaction entirely.

Stakeholders fear ‘chilling effect’ of heightened hospice scrutiny McKnights Home Care; by Liza Berger; 4/9/26 Advocates and experts, by and large, are supportive of the federal government’s intense efforts to root out fraudulent hospice providers. But they are also concerned that the laserlike focus on fraud could have unintended consequences for high-quality providers. “We’re certainly hearing from members that they want to know whether policymakers and lawmakers truly see the value of hospice and that, yes, there are bad things going on in California and it’s getting a lot of publicity, but people are concerned that this could have a chilling effect,” Scott Levy, chief government affairs officer for the National Alliance for Care at Home, told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse. “Hospices around the country at large are good people doing incredible work for meaningful periods of time for meaningful periods in their beneficiaries’ lives. And we want to make sure that that doesn’t go backwards.”

State associations urge CMS to forgo potential national hospice enrollment moratorium Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 4/10/26 A group of state hospice associations have expressed mounting concerns that a rumored national moratorium prohibiting new provider enrollments could adversely affect access. A letter to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was recently penned by the Florida Hospice & Palliative Care Association (FHPCA), the Association for Home & Hospice Care of North Carolina (AHHC of NC) and the South Carolina Home Care & Hospice Association (SCHCHA). A national moratorium, if enacted, would impact the ability for legitimate hospices to provide quality care during a time of rising demand, said FHPCA President and CEO Paul Ledford and Tim Rogers, president and CEO of SCHCHA and AHHC of NC. 

How can more efficient data sharing improve patient care plans? HealthTech; by Christopher Mills; 4/8/26 The effective participation in health information exchanges requires a focus on data governance, interoperability and organizationwide buy-in. Health information exchanges are steadily gaining traction as healthcare organizations look for ways to improve care coordination, reduce costs and meet regulatory expectations. Organizations are seeking ways to use data to make better decisions, which reduces costs and increases revenue. This is especially important for health systems as the federal government cuts funding across the board.

How does hospice care adapt to different home environments? Healthcare Business Today; by Editorial Team; 4/7/26 There isn’t just one way to do hospice care at home. Every home has its own noise level, layout, privacy restrictions, and rhythm of care, so the care team adapts to the space instead of making the space fit the care. ... Care Adjustments That Fit Real Homes

Proposed Rule: FY 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements. CMS-1851-P DisplayRegulations.gov -  An official website of the United States Government | CMS; 4/6/26 This proposed rule would update the hospice wage index, payment rates, and aggregate cap for Fiscal Year 2027; include an analysis of Medicare non-hospice spending, and proposes requirements that hospices provide the hospice election statement addendum to all Medicare beneficiaries. Additionally, this rule proposes conforming regulation text changes to discharge from hospice care regulations; regulation text changes to the face-to-face encounter regulations; and includes RFI on community palliative care services; hospice specific wage index construction; and the overlap between hospice and medical aid in dying. Finally, this rule proposes changes to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program. In commenting, please refer to file code. CMS-1851-P.

Hyder Family Hospice House to close. Strafford County leader: 'We're broke' Seacoastonline, Dover, NH; by Karen Dandurant; 4/2/26 Hyder Family Hospice House will close within a few weeks, Strafford County officials announced April 2, stating the decision reflects dire county finances. "We are not happy about it, but we are out of options," said County Commission Chair George Maglaras. "... We will try to find a way, maybe by renovating a wing at Riverside (Rest Home) that was closed during COVID, to find room for the few patients we currently have. This is very personal to me. We fought hard to keep this on county land. Closing this goes against every fiber of my being."

Hospice groups: 2.4% proposed pay raise threatens care delivery Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 4/3/26 Two of the nation’s largest hospice trade organizations decried a proposed 2.4% hospice base rate increase as inadequate in today’s financial climate. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday issued its proposed payment rule for hospices in 2027 containing a 2.4% payment increase. If finalized, this would result in a $785 million payment boost from Fiscal Year 2026. The amount of the proposed pay raise puts the sustainability of hospice care in jeopardy, according to Linda Couch, senior vice president for policy at LeadingAge.

AI governance is not policy. It is infrastructure. Mondaq - Legal500| Intelligence; by Lowenstein Sandler; 3/23/26 If a regulator or litigant asked your organization tomorrow to explain how a specific AI system produced a decision, could you? Most organizations would struggle to answer. Not because they lack policies. Because they lack reliable evidence. AI governance that exists only in documents cannot scale. Real governance lives in systems, pipelines, identity controls, telemetry, and monitoring infrastructure that produce verifiable proof that governance is working.

QIM26-302: Hospice at the bedside: A Quality Improvement Initiative to improve end of life care and reduce inpatient mortality in a cancer center Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network - JNCCN; by Matthew Murphy, Jacqueline Young, Hardik Thakkar, Sean Powell, Timothy Hembree, and David Buxton; 3/31/26 ...  Patients dying in the hospital may not survive transfer to external hospice units. ...  Integration of GIP Hospice beds into the hospital has streamlined delivery of timely, comprehensive EoL care for patients and bereavement support for families. The collaborative care model allows the hospital-based team to deliver care with active support from the hospice agency. Families express appreciation for the program, especially in situations when the patient is not stable for transfer.