Literature Review

Sterling Hospice home to close, expected to reopen under new ownership KWQC-6, Sterling, IL; by KWQC Staff; 7/22/26 The Rock River Hospice & Home is closing Aug.1, officials announced Wednesday. The organization, which has been serving people throughout the Sauk Valley area for over 40 years, is closing due to longstanding financial challenges, officials said in a media release. “Changes in healthcare reimbursement, increasing operating costs, and other economic pressures have made it increasingly difficult for standalone hospice providers to remain financially sustainable,” officials said. However, officials said care will continue to be available in the community. 

H.R.9703 - Improving access to transfusion care for hospice patients act of 2026 U.S. Congress.gov, House Ways and Means Committee; sponsored by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI-6); bill introduced 7/15/26 H.R. 9703: To require the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test allowing blood transfusions to be paid separately from the Medicare hospice all-inclusive per diem payment.

Savings in Medicare hospice payments for care provided in nursing homes U.S. HHS-OIG; Project Number OEI-02-26-00180; 7/15/26 The fixed daily rates that Medicare pays hospices for routine home care provided in a nursing home include personal care services.  However, nursing homes are already required to provide personal care services to their residents.  Paying the hospice the full routine home care rate that covers personal care services when these services are already required from the nursing home can undermine the efficiency of Medicare payments and add to the incentives that bad actors have to exploit the program.  This review will determine Medicare payments for routine home care provided to hospice beneficiaries in nursing homes, estimate potential cost savings from reducing the payment to address the inefficiency in the payment structure, and examine practices of hospices with a high percentage of their beneficiaries in nursing homes.

Medicare’s hospice bill doubled over the last decade U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO); WatchBlog Post; 7/14/26 In recent years, Medicare’s spending on hospice has nearly doubled. We looked at this spending and found that the way Medicare pays for hospice care could be costing taxpayers billions more than it should. Today’s WatchBlog post looks at our new report about inefficiencies in Medicare's payments.

The hidden cost of cancer's end: how financial strain shapes final months of care Fred Hutch Cancer Center, University of Washingon, Seattle, WA; by D. Moosavi; 6/25/26 ... Previous Fred Hutch research has shown that people with cancer are more than twice as likely to file for bankruptcy, and nearly twice as likely to experience what researchers call an “adverse financial event,” compared with people who don’t have cancer. But most of that earlier work focused on financial hardship as an outcome caused by cancer. This study flips the question: once someone is already dealing with financial strain, what happens to the care they receive as their illness progresses? 

CMS is right about hospice fraud but wrong about the moratorium on new enrollments Health Affairs; by Tamara Weaver; 6/30/26 Under CMS’s six-month moratorium on new enrollments, I have effectively been told to sit still, burn cash, and hope I survive long enough to eventually serve patients. That is not good policy. That is collateral damage. I am exactly the kind of hospice agency owner the federal government should want in this industry. I am not a private equity fund. I am not a shell company. I am not a fraudster who enrolled patients who did not qualify, billed for services never rendered, or relocated across state lines to outrun regulators. I am a founder who spent years building something genuinely different—investing my life savings, my retirement, and my professional identity into a mission-driven hospice designed specifically as an antidote to the failures that have eroded trust in end-of-life care. ...

Compassus, Providence Execs: greater transparency needed on hospice quality Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 6/29/26 Greater transparency around hospice quality could help counter eroding trust among the public due to widespread fraud, according to executives from the home health and hospice provider Compassus and the Providence Health System. ... “We’ve got a big narrative about fraud and to use that that should, and probably does, engender fear in the average person who is not working in the industry,” Compassus CEO Mike Asselta told Hospice News. “Can I trust the provider if this industry is fraught with abuse? Am I going to be on the receiving end of that abuse? Just that narrative by itself could have a chilling effect on beneficiaries and families who otherwise need hospice.”

Medicare could have saved $255.1 Million related to hospice services for certain new hospice enrollees United States Government HHS-Office of the Inspector General (OIG), Report number: A-06-22-09003; issued on 6/18/2026, posted on 6/23/26 [From the Full Report]: Our objective was to determine whether the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made Medicare payments to hospices for certain new hospice enrollees in accordance with Medicare requirements.

Dying without a safety net MedCityNews; by Darren Schulte; 6/21/26 Recently, I reviewed the case of a woman with advanced metastatic breast cancer – we’ll call her Helen. ... As one therapy after another failed, Helen cycled in and out of the hospital: complications from treatment, complications from the cancer itself, and each time the system responded the only way it knew how – rapid escalation, ICU stays, more procedures, more drugs. Finally, a palliative care team was consulted during her last hospitalization. After long family meetings, Helen was discharged to hospice and died days later. Throughout that final year, Helen suffered. No one on her medical team had documented her wishes, preferences, or goals of care. No one had walked her through the trade-offs she faced with each treatment decision. The system did what it was designed to do, and it failed her completely. 

CMS proposed rule locks in lower prices and fosters innovation for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program CMS.gov; Press Release; 6/12/26 A new proposal from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would establish a permanent framework for the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (“Negotiation Program”), creating a more transparent and sustainable process for lowering drug costs for millions of Medicare beneficiaries. The proposed rule would also create greater long-term certainty for drug manufacturers that participate in negotiations. It includes policies for negotiating and renegotiating high-cost, single-source drugs beginning with initial price applicability year 2029, while continuing to support innovation and strengthen the program.

Home health & hospice M&A in 2026: how AI is changing diligence and deal execution JD Supra; by Arnall Golden Gregory, LLP; 6/11/26 Home health and hospice buyers are processing substantially more information during diligence than in prior transaction cycles, particularly in transactions involving multi-location platforms, complex reimbursement profiles, or accelerated growth.Key Takeaways:

Humana to divest end-of-life care business for $900 million Forbes; by Bruce Japsen; 6/10/26 Humana, one of the nation’s largest providers of privatized Medicare Advantage health insurance for older adults, announced plans to divest its minority stake in a provider of end-of-life services for $900 million. Humana Wednesday said it has signed a “definitive agreement with a consortium of investors to divest all or substantially all of its minority interest in Gentiva, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life services, including hospice and palliative care.” Humana said the company “intends to utilize proceeds from the sale for general corporate purposes.” The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year subject to various regulatory approvals.

Neal, Sánchez release new GAO report finding the cecessity of Sánchez’s Hospice CARE Act U.S. Ways & Means Committee - Ranking Member Richard E. Neal, Washington, DC; Press Release; 6/9/26Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-MA) and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA) today [6/9/26] highlighted a new report from the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) finding that Congress must reform the Medicare hospice benefit to address misaligned payment incentives, reduce excessive spending, and root out fraudsters. Neal requested this report back in May 2023, and Sánchez leads legislation to modernize the Medicare hospice benefit while also safeguarding against fraud. ...Editor's Note: For a more comprehensive understanding and response, examine The full GAO report and the National Alliance for Care at Home responds to GAO report regarding Medicare hospice payment.