Description

After this webinar, attendees will be able to answer:

• What must change when the hospice election statement addendum becomes mandatory for every Medicare beneficiary?
• How should a hospice document related versus unrelated conditions, drugs, items and services?
• What are the five-day delivery and three-day update expectations, and where can workflow failures occur?
• How do the FY 2027 payment update, wage index and aggregate cap affect financial planning?
• Which non-hospice spending, live-discharge and claims patterns may increase program-integrity scrutiny?
• What must compliance, billing, clinical and quality teams do to prepare for HOPE, HQRP and public reporting?

Webinar details

The FY 2027 Hospice Final Rule creates an October 1, 2026 compliance deadline and changes how hospices communicate coverage responsibility at election. The election statement addendum is no longer a request-based document; hospices must provide it to every Medicare beneficiary and keep it current when the plan of care changes.

This session will translate the rule into operational controls for admission, physician review, interdisciplinary decision-making, pharmacy coordination, outside-provider communication and medical-record documentation. It will examine relatedness determinations, non-hospice Part A and Part B spending, the Hospice Service and Spending Variation Index, discharge authority and telehealth face-to-face requirements.

Attendees will also review the FY 2027 payment update, wage-index considerations, HOPE and Hospice Quality Reporting Program expectations, and the four-percentage-point payment penalty exposure for reporting failures. The focus is on audit-ready processes that executives and compliance leaders can implement before the effective date.

This webinar benefits the following agencies and organizations:

• Medicare-certified hospice agencies and freestanding hospice providers
• Hospital-based, home health-affiliated and health-system hospice programs
• Palliative care organizations transitioning patients into the Medicare hospice benefit
• Hospice management companies, multi-site operators and private-equity-backed platforms
• Consulting, legal, audit and revenue-cycle firms serving hospice providers
• Pharmacies, contracted facilities and outside providers coordinating care for hospice beneficiaries

Who should attend?

• Chief Executive Officers, Chief Operating Officers and Chief Financial Officers
• Chief Compliance Officers, compliance directors and regulatory affairs leaders
• Internal auditors, external auditors, legal counsel and risk-management professionals
• Hospice administrators, executive directors and regional operations leaders
• Medical directors, physician designees and interdisciplinary group leaders
• Billing, coding, reimbursement, revenue-cycle and claims-integrity teams
• Quality, HOPE, HQRP, clinical informatics and health-information management professionals
• Admission nurses, clinical managers, pharmacy coordinators and education teams

Why this topic matters now

The final rule converts the election addendum into a universal operational requirement while CMS is increasing visibility into non-hospice spending and provider-level claims patterns. A missed deadline, unsupported relatedness decision or inconsistent billing workflow can create beneficiary disputes, payment exposure and audit risk.