Sponsors
The bill increases oversight, accountability, and short‑term funding and adds a caregiver respite benefit to strengthen hospice care access and protections, but it also raises administrative complexity, payment limits, and enrollment constraints that could reduce local hospice availability and strain providers and Medicare finances.
Medicare beneficiaries will receive substantially higher per‑day payments for certain routine home and specified hospice services (temporary 400% uplift FY2028–FY2032), increasing hospice resources and access to covered services while the uplift is in effect.
Caregivers of hospice patients will gain a new short‑term home respite benefit (effective Oct 1, 2029) providing up to 120 hours per 90 days (or 80 hours per 60 days) of paid relief, easing caregiver burden and supporting home‑based care.
Medicare beneficiaries will get clearer information and stronger ownership transparency: hospices must provide timely notices about enrollment and rights and HHS must report on ownership and private‑equity influence, improving beneficiary knowledge and accountability.
A five‑year moratorium on new hospice enrollments could reduce local access to hospice services in some areas, delaying care for terminal patients if timely exemptions are not granted.
Expanded prepayment reviews, audits, complex new payment formulas, and wage‑index calculations will increase administrative burden for hospices and CMS, leading to more denials, slower payments, and potential diversion of provider resources away from patient care.
New caps, wage‑adjusted cap rules, and an initial 5% reduction in routine home care per diem when additional outlier payments begin could produce recoupments or payment limits that strain hospice finances and risk reduced services at some providers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Introduced March 17, 2026 by Mark R. Warner · Last progress March 17, 2026
Imposes a nationwide 5-year moratorium on new hospice program enrollments (with narrow access exemptions) and sharply increases oversight, audits, reporting, and civil penalties for hospice providers under Medicare. It requires revalidation and public disclosure of ownership data, expands prepayment medical review for suspect billing and long-stay beneficiaries, tightens certification and recertification rules, limits medical director roles, and creates new reporting and GAO review requirements. Changes hospice payments and benefits by directing temporary and future payment rate adjustments (including a temporary elevated per-day payment from 2027–2032), creating a wage-adjusted payment cap and outlier rules, and adding a short-term home respite benefit with new payment rules; multiple provisions take effect across 2027–2034 and include specific funding transfers for CMS implementation and audits.