April 24, 2026
Hospice: Program Integrity Still Overhang, but Large Agencies Insulated; How SSVI May Be Tweaked [CHE, PNTG, BTSG, ADUS, AVAH]
CHE’s comments on its 1Q26 earnings call this morning regarding the government’s efforts to rein in Medicare waste, fraud and abuse in hospice reinforce our prior views that program integrity, instead of the sufficiency of…
April 5, 2026
Hospices: Proposed FY27 Increase In-Line but Softer Than FY26, Program Integrity Risk Builds [CHE, ADUS, PNTG, EHAB, BTSG, AVAH, Gentiva, Compassus, Elara]
FY27 Medicare reimbursement proposal for hospices [CHE, ADUS, PNTG, EHAB, BTSG, AVAH, Gentiva, Compassus, Elara] matched our expectations, reflecting a smaller aggregate increase versus FY26 but consistent with the statutory formula. While modest upside is…
March 24, 2026
Hospitals, IRFs, SNFs, Hospices, IPFs, LTCHs: Expectations for FY27 Medicare Rate Proposals
With CMS set to release in the coming weeks FY27 Medicare payment proposals for inpatient providers (inpatient hospitals, hospices, inpatient rehab facilities, skilled nursing facilities, inpatient psych facilities, and long-term care hospitals), we expect most…
February 3, 2026
Hospices: Heightened CMS Scrutiny, Targeted CMS Enforcement, and Limited Sector-Wide Risk [CHE, BTSG, PNTG, ADUS, Elara Caring, Compassus]
The recent public clash between CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) over Medicare fraud has renewed questions about whether the hospice industry [CHE, BTSG, PNTG, ADUS, AVAH, UNH, private Elara Caring…
January 16, 2026
MedPAC Thoughts, Congress Unlikely to Listen
We expect the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC) FY/CY27 provider payment recommendations to meet the same fate as in prior years: largely ignored by Congress, though selectively cited by CMS to justify future regulatory tightening…
August 3, 2025
Hospices, IRFs, IPFs: Thoughts on Final FY26 Medicare Payment Rules
Medicare’s final FY26 payment regulations for hospices [CHE, AMED, ADUS, PNTG, BTSG, Gentiva, Compassus, Elara], inpatient rehab facilities (IRFs) [EHC, SEM], and inpatient psych facilities (IPFs) [UHS, ACHC] aligned with expectations for: 1) slightly higher aggregate spending…
April 13, 2025
Vanilla Medicare Inpatient Provider Proposals [HCA, THC, ARDT, EHC, SEM, CHE, ADUS, ENSG, PACS, UHS, ACHC]
Medicare’s proposed FY26 payment regulations for inpatient hospitals [HCA, THC, CYH, ARDT, UHS, MPW, municipal bond-backed facilities], inpatient rehab facilities (IRFs) [EHC, SEM], hospices [CHE, ADUS, Gentiva], long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) [SEM, Kindred], skilled nursing…
February 19, 2025
[CHE, ADUS, Gentiva, Compassus]: CMS Grants Hospices Their Wish on SFP But Careful What You Wish For
While hospices [CHE, ADUS, private Gentiva, Compassus] are receiving a reprieve for now from more intensive oversight and the threat of termination from Medicare after CMS announced it was going to sideline the statutorily mandated…