Enforcement convergence. The Department of Justice has designated home health and hospice as top fraud enforcement targets in the same cycle that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is standing up the Service and Spending Variation Index to flag hospice utilization outliers. Two federal mechanisms, built separately, pointed at the same providers. An agency that surfaces on the index is a candidate for the referral list, and the exposure is additive rather than parallel.

Payer squeeze. Star Ratings are shifting toward clinical outcomes at the same moment 73 percent of health plans report operating at a loss. The plans least able to carry a low-performing post-acute partner are the plans whose own scores now depend on your clinical numbers. If your outcomes do not move, you lose preferred standing precisely when nobody has margin to be generous with you.

Legislative pressure from every direction. Licensure expansion in Massachusetts and Illinois, a federal home health bill proposing a pay rate reset, and a Senate bill targeting fraud all landed in the same cycle. There is no single rule to plan around this year. The exposure accumulates across tracks, and agencies waiting for one big regulation to react to are already behind three smaller ones.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services unveiled the Service and Spending Variation Index in the 2027 hospice final rule, built to evaluate hospice utilization alongside non-hospice spending for your patients.

CMS released instructions for accessing hospice provider preview reports and patient experience preview reports, both of which show your quality data before it is published.

A new Senate bill would update home care agency pay rates to reflect post-pandemic conditions while adding fraud provisions.

New research found that hospices acquired by private equity and publicly traded corporations showed declines in care intensity between 2010 and 2021.

A proposed rule would block Medicare payment for services from certain off-campus outpatient departments unless attestation and provider identifier requirements are met by January 1, 2028.

PharMerica is promoting a white paper that details how senior living communities are using data-driven pharmacy services and eMARs to improve medication management, benefiting both staff and residents.

Home-based care executives name technology-assisted tools as the most transformational change coming to documentation and retention, while survey data shows the majority of clinicians already use them daily without employer guidance.

A new fact sheet clarifies requirements for accurately determining OBRA discharge assessments.

The 2027 final rule removes administrative measures from Star Ratings and shifts weight toward clinical outcomes and member experience, while roughly 73 percent of health plans report operating at a loss.

Aetna reported improvement across 17 measures in its Medicare Advantage value-based models, including fewer hospitalizations, while Humana expanded a value-based partnership with Cityblock Health covering nearly 20,000 Medicare Advantage and dually eligible members in North Carolina.

The 2026 Inc. 5000 list includes 35 home-based care organizations, spanning multiple service lines, all showing significant three-year revenue growth.

Renewed acquisition activity in senior housing, particularly assisted living, is being driven by rising demand and limited new supply.

Vehicle breakdowns, unreliable public transit and long drive distances produce missed visits, schedule failures and turnover across home care.

New analysis puts numbers on what staff churn costs healthcare organizations through overtime, temporary staffing and lost productivity.