The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced its Calendar Year 2027 Home Health Prospective Payment System final rule on November 4, 2026. The rule updates Medicare payment policies for home health agencies and includes program-integrity and quality-reporting changes.
CMS says the rule strengthens its ability to recover Medicare payments from providers found to have been noncompliant, expands certain grounds for denying or revoking Medicare enrollment, and adds requirements affecting some ownership changes at home health agencies. The rule also shortens the deadline for submitting certain home health assessment data, which CMS expects will make public quality information available sooner.
The rule discusses access to skilled palliative care through Medicare’s existing home health benefit for eligible patients with serious or progressive illness. CMS emphasizes that this does not create a new Medicare benefit; eligibility continues to depend on the patient’s needs and existing home health coverage criteria.
CMS estimates aggregate Medicare payments to home health agencies will increase by approximately 2.4 percent in 2027 compared with 2026. These payment policies primarily concern Medicare-certified home health agencies and do not set prices for ordinary private-pay, non-medical home-care services.
Families comparing providers can use Medicare’s official resources to understand the difference between Medicare-certified home health and non-medical home-care support. A provider’s certification, service scope and payment arrangements should be confirmed directly.
