Effective February 14, 2025, implementation of the Hospice Special Focus Program (SFP) for CY 2025 has ceased so that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may further evaluate the program. National organizations including LeadingAge, National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation and The Alliance for Care at Home applaud this decision.
According to a press release from The Alliance, “This decision is a positive move acknowledging that the current approach is not working as intended. The hospice community has long advocated for strong oversight and patient protections but the SFP, as implemented, was deeply flawed, unlawful and harmful to the very patients it was meant to protect.” The intent of the SFP was to identify fraudulent hospice providers from reputable ones but the methodology used was flawed according to a multi-state coalition of hospices and hospice associations who took legal action in January to challenge the program.
According to the complaint, the SFP misrepresented hospice compliance records, used misleading data and jeopardized access to high-quality end-of-life care while disproportionately penalizing well-established hospices. The national hospice organizations are committed to “protecting access to high-quality hospice care and ensuring that regulatory oversight is fair, transparent and aligned with congressional intent.”
Moving forward, these organizations will work with CMS, lawmakers and stakeholders to “develop a fair and effective oversight process that ensures accountability without jeopardizing access to care.”
