Medicare Program; FY 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements

Document 2026-06604 is a Proposed Rule published by the Department of Health and Human Services in the Federal Register on April 6, 2026. This proposed rule would update the hospice wage index, payment rates, and aggregate cap amount for Fiscal Year (FY) 2027. This proposed rule also includes an analysis of Medicare non-hospice spending, including details regarding a hospice service and spending variation index (SSVI), and proposes to require that hospices provide the hospice election statement addendum to all Medicare beneficiaries at the time of hospice election. 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 requests for information on community palliative care services; the construction of a hospice specific wage index; and the overlap between hospice and medical aid in dying (MAID). Finally, this rule proposes changes to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program. View the original at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/06/2026-06604/medicare-program-fy-2027-hospice-wage-index-and-payment-rate-update-and-hospice-quality-reporting.

No. Document 2026-06604 is not classified as economically significant under Executive Order 12866. Economically significant rules require OIRA review and are estimated to have impacts of $100 million or more per year.