Federal hospice survey and enforcement authority
Federal law and CMS survey guidance anchor hospice oversight through standard surveys, public transparency, remedies for noncompliance, and fraud-referral signals.
Federal · Effective · Effective Jul 4, 2026
What it is
- What changed
- 42 U.S.C. 1395i-6 sets hospice survey frequency, public transparency, special-focus-program, and enforcement-remedy authority. CMS QSO-25-06-Hospice reinforces survey consistency and fraud-referral indicators, while CMS has separately ceased CY 2025 Hospice Special Focus Program implementation pending further evaluation.
- Why it matters
- Hospice is often delivered in the home with family caregivers as the daily safety net. The corpus needs a federal enforcement anchor for complaints, surveys, public transparency, and quality-of-care concerns without overstating the paused CY 2025 special-focus implementation.
- Who it touches
- Family caregivers, Care providers and plans, People receiving care, Businesses and agencies that must complyMedicare hospice patients, family caregivers, hospice providers, state survey agencies, accrediting organizations
Sources
- 42 U.S.C. 1395i-6 hospice survey and enforcement procedures
- CMS QSO-25-06-Hospice survey and fraud-referral memo
- CMS Hospice Special Focus Program status
Last reviewed Jul 4, 2026. This is information, not legal advice; check the source for the current text.