CMS Extends Hospice Enrollment Freeze Through May 2027

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will extend its nationwide moratoria on new Medicare enrollments for hospices and home health agencies for six more months, the agency announced on November 12, 2026. The extension runs through May 12, 2027, and CMS says it's needed because the circumstances behind the original freeze haven't abated.

The first moratoria began on May 13, 2026. CMS says they prevented potentially fraudulent operators from entering Medicare, and the agency consulted the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, which agreed a significant potential for fraud, waste and abuse remains in both categories. The Federal Register notices for the extension are scheduled for publication on November 16, 2026.

The freeze still covers new applications for initial Medicare enrollment, nationwide, and it still reaches certain changes in majority ownership that trigger a new enrollment. CMS applies it nationwide so an operator can't dodge the restriction by moving across state lines. That's the part that didn't change.

What changed is growth for the agencies already inside. The May moratoria also blocked new hospice practice locations and new home health branches. The extension drops that coverage: currently enrolled hospices can again add practice locations, and enrolled home health agencies can again add branches, within their existing enrollment and, under CMS guidance, in the same state.

Existing enrollments aren't affected at all, and currently enrolled providers keep delivering services as before. Patients on hospice or home health care today don't lose anything under this extension. The line CMS drew runs between new entrants and existing providers, not between patients.

States keep their own say on the Medicaid side. Louisiana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island have put hospice moratoria in place in response to the May notice, and Ohio and Rhode Island have done the same for home health. A provider can be clear federally and still be blocked by its state.