CMS announces 6-month enrollment moratorium on home health and hospice providers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today announced a six-month nationwide moratorium preventing enrollment of new home health agencies and hospice providers, effective immediately. CMS said that the moratorium is part of Vice President JD Vance's Anti-Fraud Task Force and that the agency will use this time to intensify anti-fraud efforts within the sector.

In response to the moratorium, Ashley Thompson, AHA senior vice president of public policy analysis and development, said, "The AHA strongly supports CMS' efforts to protect the integrity of the Medicare program and combat fraud. Yet, as we have stated previously, we are concerned about subjecting entire categories of providers or claims to restrictions due to the actions of a limited number of bad actors. There are many rural and underserved areas of the country where hospitals struggle to find appropriate discharge locations for patients, and home health agencies and hospice providers are essential to ensuring timely and safe next levels of care. This moratorium may exacerbate these existing difficulties. We therefore recommend CMS consider a more targeted, data-driven approach to identify bad actors while allowing quality care providers to continue to service Medicare beneficiaries."