Literature Review

Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule CMS Newsroom; Fact Sheet; 7/14/26 paired with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CMS CY 2027 Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule, 7/16/26; summary by guest editor Judi Lund Person On July 14, 2026, the Federal Register posted the CY 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule – CMS-1848-P. The CMS Fact Sheet on the proposed rule can be found here. While the proposed rule is 1,592 pages, there are two items of note to hospice and palliative care readers: 1) Supporting Beneficiaries Planning for Future Medical Decisions.CMS is proposing to create two new HCPCS codes to describe advance care planning (ACP) services furnished by clinical staff under the direct supervision of the billing physician or other practitioner. These new codes will more accurately distinguish and value the work done by billing practitioners from time spent by their clinical staff providing ACP services. We are further proposing that the existing ACP CPT codes 99497 and 99498 would only be used to report time personally spent by the billing practitioner. 2) RFI on Community-based Palliative Care, asking questions on eligibility for serious illness care and palliative care, the future of care management services and advanced primary care management.   

The corporatization of medicine, in salaries and beds MedPageToday's KevinMD.com; by Brian Hudes, MD; 7/11/26 In the 1970s, the American hospital was, in the industry’s own language, an “open workshop.” ... The doctor made the medical decisions; the administrator kept the lights on and the ledgers balanced. It was an arrangement with obvious flaws (fragmentation, duplication, uneven quality), but it rested on a clear premise: Medicine was practiced by physicians, and the institution existed to support that practice. That premise has quietly inverted. ... It is a corporation that employs them. The practice down the street has been acquired, rebranded, and folded into a system with a marketing department, a real-estate strategy, and a chief executive whose compensation would have been unimaginable to the physicians of the open-workshop era. The people who now set the direction of American medicine are, increasingly, not the people who see patients.

Errors in billing in the United States may result in severe civil or even criminal penalties Spilman Thomas & Battle; by Christopher R. Arthur, William S. Thompson; 7/1/26 The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has ratcheted up its efforts to pursue actions against corporations, healthcare entities, and individuals, including physicians, for false Medicare or Medicaid billing and COVID-19-related loans. ... As part of this announcement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) suspended 1,079 providers and revoked billing privileges for 1,403 providers. ... In addition to allowing the United States to pursue perpetrators of fraud on its own, the FCA allows private citizens to file suits on behalf of the government (called “qui tam” suits) against those who have defrauded the government. In the healthcare realm, these suits are often filed by disgruntled employees and patients, but can also be brought by competitors. ...

Hospice sues Medicare over denied claims worth over $1 million Bloomberg Law; by Ganny Belloni; 7/1/26 An Arizona hospice group is suing Medicare alleging the program arbitrarily denied hundreds of claims for palliative care services. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas by Infinity Hospice Care claims that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, through its private claims processor, denied over 200 claims for hospice services worth over $1 million after audits found the services didn’t meet the Medicare Administrative Contractor’s payment criteria. [Full access may be limited by a paywall.]

Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice receives $5,000 grant from First Hope Bank Pike County Courier, Newton, NJ; 6/23/26 Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice has received a $5,000 grant from First Hope Bank, supporting the organization’s continued mission to provide compassionate, high‑quality hospice care to the community. ... The grant is part of First Hope Bank’s initiative to recognize and support qualifying small businesses, farms, and nonprofit organizations that have experienced economic challenges and supply‑chain constraints. This investment reflects the bank’s commitment to strengthening local organizations that make a meaningful difference in the communities they serve.

Walking with Purpose fundraiser: hospice volunteer shares story of 520-mile journey WBUP/WJMN, Marquette, MI; by Rebecca Bartelme; 6/23/26 A volunteer with Lake Superior Life Care & Hospice gives back to hospice patients and their families in a unique way. Bart Carroll set out on a 520-mile journey along the Camino de Santiago in Spain, turning every step into support for hospice patients and families. Now, he’s back to share stories, reflections, and the powerful impact of walking with purpose ... "All the funds that Bart has raised from the walks goes to support our Patient Care Fund," said Jennifer Voegtline, CEO, Lake Superior Life Care & Hospice. 

Hospice, ethics & capitalism:  a powerful conversation with  UVA Darden School of Business — part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Lauren Kaufman and Stephen Maiden; 6/17/26 Few topics spark more debate in healthcare than the intersection of compassionate care, ethical responsibility, and financial sustainability. Will mission-driven hospice organizations survive—and thrive—in a healthcare landscape increasingly dominated by for-profit providers? In Part One of this compelling conversation, host Chris Comeaux welcomes Lauren Kaufmann, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and Stephen Maiden, Managing Director of the Darden Case Writing Research Group. Together, they discuss the groundbreaking business case developed around Teleios Collaborative Network and the evolving hospice industry.

Hospice, ethics & capitalism:  a powerful conversation with  UVA Darden School of Business — part one Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN); podcast hosted by Chris Comeaux with Lauren Kaufman and Stephen Maiden; 6/17/26 Few topics spark more debate in healthcare than the intersection of compassionate care, ethical responsibility, and financial sustainability. Will mission-driven hospice organizations survive—and thrive—in a healthcare landscape increasingly dominated by for-profit providers? In Part One of this compelling conversation, host Chris Comeaux welcomes Lauren Kaufmann, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, and Stephen Maiden, Managing Director of the Darden Case Writing Research Group. Together, they discuss the groundbreaking business case developed around Teleios Collaborative Network and the evolving hospice industry.

Medicare hospice: action needed to pay more efficiently for routine home care GAO - U.S. Government Accountability Office; GAO-26-107585; publicly released 6/9/26 Fast Facts

GAO uses home health as benchmark to question Medicare hospice payments Home Health News; by Morgan Gonzales with Jim Parker; 6/9/26 ... GAO said Medicare could have saved about $7.6 billion if hospice routine home care from 2022 through 2024 had been reimbursed using adjusted home health per-visit rates rather than hospice’s current per-day payment system, according to a GAO report released Tuesday [6/9]. ... While The Alliance questioned the GAO’s comparison of hospice to home health, Mollie Gurian, vice president of policy and government affairs for LeadingAge, said that the comparison could be a helpful tool.

Home care/hospice salary & benefits studies: participation now open LeadingAge; by Josh Moore; 6/8/26 Participation is now open for the annual Home Health and Hospice Salary & Benefits Studies, conducted in cooperation by LeadingAge’s partner Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service (HCS), and LeadingAge is encouraging our members to participate.  The study is recognized as the standard for reliable and comprehensive compensation data, including management salaries, nonmanagement wages, fringe benefits, and other facility metrics. ... Last year’s Home Care Report contained data from 1,111 home health agencies and the Hospice Report had data from 1,091 hospice agencies.

National Alliance for Care at Home responds to GAO report regarding Medicare hospice payment The National Alliance for Care at Home (The Alliance), Alexandria, VA; Press Release; 6/9/26 The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) today responded to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommending that Congress consider directing the Department of Health and Human Services to restructure the Medicare hospice payment system to better promote routine home care payment efficiency. ... The GAO report asserts that shifting hospice to per-visit payment rates comparable to home health would have reduced Medicare spending by $7.6 billion for a selected group of beneficiaries in 2024. However, these savings are generated in part by paying less to “low visit” hospices that are concentrated in known high-fraud areas. ...