Rural Hospice and Palliative Care resources via the Rural Health Information Hub

News: CMS: Medicare, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Programs: Announcement of Nationwide Temporary Moratorium on Enrollment of Hospices

Wed, 13 May 2026 08:56:03 -0500

Notice from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announcing a 6-month nationwide moratorium on the Medicare enrollment of hospices. The moratorium takes effect on May 13, 2026.

Resource: MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy: Hospice Services: Chapter 10

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:22:26 -0500

Discusses payment adequacy for hospice and palliative support services. Includes data on average costs by day and aggregate margins by urban and rural status, as well as demographics on Medicare decedents who used hospice during 2010 and between 2019-2024. Compares the actual hospice utilization rates in micropolitan, rural adjacent, rural nonadjacent, and frontier areas to urban hospice utilization rates.

Resource: NACH Facts and Figures: 2025 Edition

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 09:24:20 -0600

Provides an overview of hospice and palliative care in the United States. Includes information and data on patient characteristics, access to care, reimbursement, barriers and facilitators to care, quality of care, and more. Includes data on geographic locations of hospice services and patients. -- National Alliance for Care at Home

Resource: Hospice Care Chartbook 2025

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 09:32:25 -0600

Provides an overview of hospice care, including patient demographics, characteristics of live discharges, organizational trends, and Medicare spending for hospice services. Includes charts and graphs throughout, as well as state-by-state data. Slides 16 and 34 highlight the percentage of Medicare decedents that did and did not use hospice in 2024 and the number of hospices between 2019 and 2024 by rurality, respectively. -- National Alliance for Care at Home

Resource: Medicare Hospice Use Patterns Among Patients With Alzheimer's Disease or Related Dementias Compared to Those With Other Terminal Diagnoses

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 09:58:16 -0600

Examines hospice use among Medicare enrollees with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) compared to Medicare hospice enrollees with other terminal diagnoses. Explores whether hospice characteristics, including rural status, are associated with hospice length of stay, visit frequency, and live discharge rates among Medicare patients with and without terminal and comorbid ADRD diagnoses. -- HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation

Event: 2026 National Alliance for Care at Home Annual Meeting & Exposition

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 09:34:42 -0600

Washington DC
October 27, 2026 -- National Alliance for Care at Home

Event: 2026 National Alliance for Care at Home Finance and Technology Summit

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 08:34:15 -0600

Boston MA
July 12, 2026 -- National Alliance for Care at Home

Resource: Healthcare Use and Out-of-Pocket Costs for Rural Family Caregivers and Care Recipients in a Randomized Controlled Trial

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 10:11:25 -0500

Evaluates the effect of a transitional palliative care intervention on healthcare utilization and out-of-pocket spending for 282 groups of rural family caregivers and their care recipients in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.

Resource: MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy: Hospice Services: Chapter 9

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:20:12 -0500

Discusses payment adequacy for hospice and palliative support services. Includes data on average costs by day and aggregate margins by urban and rural status, as well as demographics on Medicare decedents who used hospice during 2010 and between 2019-2023. Compares the actual hospice utilization rates in micropolitan, rural adjacent, rural nonadjacent, and frontier areas to urban hospice utilization rates. -- Medicare Payment Advisory Commission

Resource: Rural American Hospice Insights Report: Understanding the Needs of the Rural Family Caregiver

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 15:59:23 -0600

Presents findings from a survey of 400 rural family caregivers regarding their knowledge and perceptions of hospice care. Covers respondents' demographics, communication and learning preferences, awareness of and beliefs about hospice, priorities regarding hospice care, and more. Requires name, organization information, and email address to download. -- National Alliance for Care at Home

Resource: Palliative Care in Rural Communities

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 15:07:24 -0600

Presents the CARE (Complex, Access, Resourceful, Extraordinary) Framework to highlight the challenges and benefits of healthcare delivery in rural communities. Highlights multiple models for palliative care outside acute care settings with consideration for the CARE Framework.

Resource: Transitional Palliative Care for Family Caregivers: Outcomes From a Randomized Controlled Trial

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 09:00:23 -0500

Examines the influence of mentoring from a palliative care nurse on family caregivers in rural and other areas of three states. Analyzes adult caregivers from 2018-2022 after their care recipient who utilized inpatient palliative care was discharged from the hospital. Compares a control group who received only monthly phone calls with an intervention group who received teaching, guidance, and counseling. Discusses importance of both caregiver support and patient wellness.

Organization: National Alliance for Care at Home

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 11:22:07 -0500

Supports advocacy, training, and networking for care providers in the home for people with disabilities, older adults, and the dying. An alliance between the National Association for Home Care & Hospice and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

Resource: Standing Technical Expert Panel for the Development, Evaluation, and Maintenance of Post-Acute Care (PAC) and Hospice Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Measurement Sets: Summary Report

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 15:32:45 -0500

Describes a December 15, 2023, Technical Expert Panel (TEP) regarding the development of additional cross-setting measures for the Post-Acute Care (PAC) and Hospice Quality Reporting Programs (QRPs), and filling measurement gaps with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Universal Foundation measures. Summarizes TEP comments on adding measures to PAC and Hospice QRPs in four domains: 1) behavioral and mental health, 2) patient experience of care, 3) pain management, and 4) immunization. Covers panelists' discussions on the appropriateness of the existing measure set and potential new measures, setting-specific considerations, data sources, and other topics related to each domain. Includes rural references throughout. -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Resource: CMS State Operations Manual (SOM)

Fri, 31 May 2024 14:47:51 -0500

Provides guidance to state agencies that survey healthcare facilities and providers to determine if they are in compliance with the Medicare Conditions of Participation (CoP). Includes appendices with regulatory information specific to Critical Access Hospitals (Appendix W) and Federally Qualified Health Centers/Rural Health Clinics (Appendix G). Can be used by healthcare facilities as a tool to self-evaluate their compliance with Medicare CoP. -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Resource: Impact of Concurrent Hospice Care on Primary Care Visits among Children in Southern Rural Appalachia

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 10:48:31 -0500

Explores the relationship between concurrent hospice care and primary care visits among children in southern rural Appalachia between 2011 and 2013. Describes demographic and clinical characteristics of children in hospice care in this study. Discusses the findings in relation to the children's residence in medically underresourced areas.

Resource: Medicare Advantage Value-Based Insurance Design Model Phase II: Second Annual Evaluation Report

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 16:17:32 -0600

Presents findings from an evaluation of Phase II of the Medicare Advantage (MA) Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model, which allows participating MA parent organizations to offer supplemental benefits and incentives to beneficiaries, hospice benefits, and wellness and healthcare planning through their MA plans. Summarizes findings from interviews with representatives of participating MA organizations, in-network and out-of-network hospices, and beneficiaries. Covers MA organization and beneficiary implementation experiences, plan enrollment, quality of care, health outcomes, and more, for the VBID Model generally and for the VBID Hospice Benefit Component. -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Resource: Evaluation of the Medicare Care Choices Model: Fifth and Final Annual Evaluation Report

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 10:04:14 -0600

Evaluates the Medicare Care Choice Model (MCCM), which tests whether offering eligible Medicare beneficiaries the option to receive supportive services without forgoing payment for treatment of their terminal conditions improved their quality of life and care, increased patient and family satisfaction, and reduced Medicare expenditures. Describes the characteristics of participating hospices and withdrawal of providers over time; beneficiaries who were referred to, eligible for, and enrolled in MCCM; services provided and the quality of service delivery; transitions from MCCM to the Medicare hospice benefit; beneficiary outcomes and effects across subgroups; and key findings. Includes information on rural provider and beneficiary participation in the model and compares rural and urban beneficiary outcomes. -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Resource: NHPCO Pediatric Facts and Figure, 2023 Edition

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 10:18:11 -0500

Provides an overview of pediatric hospice and palliative care in the United States. Includes information and data on patient characteristics, access to care, reimbursement, barriers and facilitators to care, and more. Section 3 compares the number and percentage of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties with access to pediatric hospice and palliative care. -- National Alliance for Care at Home

Resource: Association of Rurality with Utilization of Palliative Care and Hospice among Medicare Beneficiaries Who Died from Pancreatic Cancer: A Cohort Study

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 09:56:19 -0500

Explores the association between the rurality of patient residence and the use of palliative care and hospice among Medicare decedents with pancreatic cancer between 2016 and 2018. Also examines the use of palliative care at least 90 days after diagnosis and before death and hospice care at least three days before death. Presents data by metropolitan, micropolitan, small town, and rural classifications.

Resource: Palliative Care and Healthcare Utilization among Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients in U.S. Hospitals

Fri, 24 Mar 2023 14:18:01 -0500

Examines in-patient palliative care use by hospitalized metastatic breast cancer patients. Analyzes 26,961 female patients from 2010 to 2014 for palliative care use, with patient information further broken down by age, race, income, insurance type, and status of hospital utilized, such as urban teaching, urban nonteaching, or rural.

Resource: Increasing Knowledge of Palliative Care in South Dakota

Wed, 16 Nov 2022 14:25:50 -0600

Describes the creation of the South Dakota Palliative Care Network and discusses its work to increase knowledge of palliative care among rural healthcare professionals, nursing students, and community members in the state. -- Rural Health Information Hub

Resource: Hospice: CMS Flexibilities to Fight COVID-19

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 11:41:38 -0500

Outlines specific regulatory waivers and Medicare flexibilities for hospice providers issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Includes information on payments for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Identifies whether each waiver or flexibility has been terminated, will end at the conclusion of the public health emergency, or has become permanent. -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Resource: Caring for People with Serious Illness: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic: Proceedings from a Workshop

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 16:02:12 -0500

Proceedings from a three-part workshop to explore the initial responses to the pandemic by healthcare teams providing care to people with serious illness, the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare workforce, use of telehealth, issues related to communicating with the public about health emergencies, and policy opportunities to improve care for people with serious illness. Mentions rural throughout. -- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Resource: Palliative Care — More Than Just Hospice, with Karla Weng and Pat Justis

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 11:02:20 -0500

An episode of the Exploring Rural Health podcast featuring Karla Weng, Senior Program Manager for Stratis Health, and Pat Justis, Director of the Washington State Office of Rural Health. Discusses rural palliative care and an initiative to expand access in rural communities in Washington State, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. -- Rural Health Information Hub

Resource: Medicare Learning Network: Hospice Payment System & Coverage

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 13:49:11 -0500

Provides an overview of the Medicare hospice program and services. Includes information regarding Conditions of Participation, Medicare certification, quality reporting, and more. -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Resource: Developing Successful Palliative Care Teams in Rural Communities: A Facilitated Process

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 11:17:16 -0600

Discusses the importance of palliative care in rural areas. Describes a 3-year initiative led by Stratis Health to guide the development of palliative care services through rural community-based teams in North Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Presents results of the initiative, including initial and follow-up assessments regarding the community's experience and expertise in components of palliative care.

Resource: Integrating Serious Illness Care into Primary Care Delivery: Proceedings of a Workshop

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 10:46:21 -0600

Summarizes presentations and discussions from a June 2021 workshop on challenges and opportunities to integrate serious illness care into primary care settings. Covers the shared principles of primary and serious illness care, the interdisciplinary teams in each discipline, policy issues that serve as barriers or incentives, and best practices. Includes examples of integrating serious illness care into primary care settings in rural areas. -- Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Resource: State Operations Manual Appendix Z - Emergency Preparedness for All Provider and Certified Supplier Types Interpretive Guidance

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 13:33:43 -0500

Interpretive guidelines clarifying several provisions of the emergency preparedness final rule for Medicare- and Medicaid-participating providers, which affects Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), and other rural facilities. -- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Resource: Rural Community-based Palliative Care ECHO Program Summary

Wed, 14 Apr 2021 09:25:37 -0500

Describes a nine-month intervention to support 11 community-based palliative care programs in rural Minnesota using the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Model. Provides an overview of the participants, session topics, technology utilized, and results. Offers insights and lessons learned. -- Stratis Health