CMS FY 2026 Hospice Wage Index FINAL Rule posted in Federal Register

CMS FY 2026 Hospice Wage Index FINAL Rule posted in Federal Register
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); released 8/1/25, 4:15pm EDT

At 4:15 pm on Friday, August 1, the Federal Register posted CMS-1835-F, the FY 2026 Hospice Wage Index final rule. 

Payment Update:  The final FY 2026 payment update is 2.6%, 0.2% higher than published in the proposed rule.

Wage Index Values: These values have been updated, based on the third quarter information. The FY 2026 FINAL hospice wage index values can be found here:  2025-14782.pdf

Cap amount: The Fy 2026 cap amount is $35,361.44, equal to the FY 2025 cap amount ($34,465.34) updated by 2.6%.

Other regulatory clarifications:

• Physician member of the IDG language is now standardized throughout § 418.25(a) and (b) to indicate that the physician member of the IDG may also determine admission to hospice care.
  
  
• Face-to-face attestation:  We are finalizing a modification to the regulation text at § 418.22(b)(4) to clarify that the attestation requirement may be fulfilled by not only a clearly titled section of or an addendum to the recertification form, but also by a signed and dated clinical note within the medical record that documents clear indication that the face-to-face encounter occurred and includes the date of the visit, the signature of the practitioner who conducted the face-to-face encounter, and the date of the signature.”

More details and rate charts for the FY 2026 FINAL rule can be found at your national and/or state hospice membership organization.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions about hospice payment policy, send your inquiry via email to: hospicepolicy@cms.hhs.gov.

This document is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on 08/05/2025 and available online at https://federalregister.gov/d/2025-14782, and on https://govinfo.gov.

Editor's Note: We thank Judi Lund Person--Guest Editor--for providing us with this crucial, time-sensitive information.