End the Home Health and Hospice Moratoria, LeadingAge Tells CMS

LeadingAge in a September 9, 2026 letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and other members of CMS leadership asked the agency to end the hospice and home health moratoria on new enrollments into the Medicare program.

President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan in the letter reiterates our longstanding position, laid out at the start of the moratorium in May, and again in a message to members last month that a short-term moratorium is an appropriate tool to allow the agency time to develop and implement longer-term solutions to oversight including enhanced site visits, as well as stronger enrollment controls.

We have not wavered in our position that targeted program integrity efforts to root out bad actors is necessary. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that legitimate providers are being caught in the crossfire of this war against fraud. We have heard from members about the need for the moratoria to end and we urge CMS to take more targeted approaches to oversight. The blunt nature of this national moratorium, which does not allow exceptions to enrollments in areas with clear needs, necessitates our voice now.

The agency recently ended the six-month moratorium on new enrollments for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) providers; bearing in mind that CMS staff, during a July home health and hospice stakeholders session, shared its plans to provide 60 days' notice if the agency intends to extend the national home health and hospice moratoria, it stands to reason that a 60-day notice should be issued around Friday, September 11.

This letter's timing corresponds with CMS' promised 60 days' notice of whether they would continue the moratoria for hospice and home health.