CMS Pays Home Health More, and Moves to Revoke Faster

CMS released its 2027 home-health proposed rule with an aggregate payment increase of $420 million, or 2.4%, built on a 2.1% payment update worth $370 million plus outlier and case-mix changes, according to the CMS fact sheet reported by Home Health Care News. Beau Sorensen, chief operating officer of First Choice Home Health & Hospice, called it 'sorely needed,' noting it is the first payment increase since the CY2022 rule.

The raise arrives wired to enforcement. The same rule proposes making all Medicare enrollment revocations retroactive and broadening CMS's authority to deny or revoke providers tied to compliance violations. Home Health Care News framed the package as a mixed bag: a long-awaited raise alongside the sting of unresolved retroactive cuts, with the road to recovery still steep.

Behind the payment fight sits a widening demand. In a July 4 New England Journal of Medicine perspective, Weill Cornell and Brown researchers warn that the number of people needing help with dementia, disability, and daily activities is rising while nursing-home capacity shrinks, straining families and hospitals. Pay the compliant agency more, revoke the rest faster, and the household still meets the gap between them.