HOPE Updates & Version Changes

This page complements HOPE in Practice and HOPE in Action by providing real-time updates to CMS’s Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) tool. Bookmark this page as your central hub for staying up to date on guidance manual versions, change tables, and implementation updates. This page was last reviewed and updated on Sunday, October 11, 2026.

Table of Contents

Current HOPE Version

Current Version: v1.03 (Effective October 1, 2026)

Most Recent Change: Version 1.02 clarified that LPNs/LVNs may complete Symptom Follow-up Visits (SFVs) under RN supervision, resolving field confusion about delegation practices. No other substantive changes were made.

Download v1.01 to v1.02 Change Table

For survey-related implications of HOPE data and HQRP, see the Hospice CoP updates page.

Version Change Archive

Version	Release Date	Key Changes	CMS Change Table
v1.03	October 1, 2026	None of the changes impact current HOPE Data Specifications. Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) v1.02 to v1.03 Guidance Manual and Item Set Change Table Effective October 1, 2026	Download PDF HOPE v1.02 to v1.03 Guidance Manual and Item Set Change Table
N/A	May 7, 2026	HQRP FAQ Tool: HOPE submission timeliness formalized; APU threshold confirmed for HOPE records	CMS FAQ Tool PDF
N/A	January 16, 2026 (production effective February 18, 2026)	HOPE Data Specs Errata V1.00.3: Edit -3083 removed (A1400B/A1400A conflict); Edit -3084 downgraded from FATAL to WARNING	Download PDF
v1.02	October 1, 2025	LPN/LVN SFV clarification	Download PDF
v1.01	April 22, 2025	Multiple item clarifications, HUV/SFV timepoint guidance	Download PDF
v1.00	2024 (see note)	Initial HOPE release	N/A

Recent Announcements & Program Updates

October 6, 2026 – HOPE Guidance Manual v1.03 Released, Effective October 1, 2026

CMS announced on October 6, 2026, that it had updated the HOPE webpage with Guidance Manual v1.03 and v1.03 versions of all four item sets: Admission, HOPE Update Visit, Discharge, and All Item. The manual and item sets carry an effective date of October 1, 2026.

CMS describes the update as clarifications drawn from Help Desk questions and feedback from HOPE’s first year in the field. In its own words: “None of the changes impact current HOPE Data Specifications.” That matters. Your software does not change, your submission deadlines do not change, and no item was added or removed.

What did change is the guidance, in 45 places. These are the ones most likely to change how your team works.

Who can do a Symptom Follow-up Visit. The manual’s Section 1.3.3 examples now show the SFV being conducted by “the nurse (RN or LPN/LVN),” and one example has the LPN/LVN on the hospice team returning on day 25 to conduct the in-person SFV by themselves. Section 1.3 also adds observation and focused clinical assessment to the list of assessment activities an LPN or LVN may perform for the SFV. If your agency has been holding every SFV for an RN, this is permission to spread the work.

Late and missed HOPE Update Visits. Section 1.3.2 now says a late or missed HUV may still be completed and submitted, but only HUVs accepted on time count toward your compliance percentage. In plain terms: do the visit anyway, and do not expect it to repair the number.

A new answer for a missed SFV. Section 1.3.3 adds Situation E, which covers an SFV that was missed for reasons other than refusal or lack of access. The manual says: “Since the SFV was not conducted, the reason code # 9, ‘None of the above,’ is recorded on J2052C.” Until now, there was no clean answer for this, and agencies were picking whichever of codes 1 through 3 felt closest.

Discharge requires an actual interruption in care. Both Section 1.5.1 and item A2115 now state that there is no HOPE discharge without an interruption in care. The administrative-discharge language also changed from “must” to “may choose to,” and the manual separates Medicare benefit periods from HOPE timepoints. If your team has been filing HOPE discharges at benefit-period boundaries where care never stopped, that stops.

Principal diagnosis, spelled out. Item I0010 now defines the principal diagnosis as the condition chiefly responsible for the hospice admission, determined with the medical director and with input from the attending. The dementia examples were expanded to include Alzheimer’s, Pick’s, frontotemporal, and Lewy body dementia. The comorbidity guidance has dropped its plan-of-care focus, now covers both related and unrelated conditions, and states that the field may be left blank. An additional example shows that a cancer history from many years ago still belongs there.

Pain coded as active even when the patient is comfortable at screening. Item J0905 now states to code pain as “Yes” (active) if it was rated mild, moderate, or severe in J0900, even if the patient is not in pain at the time of screening.

The difference between code 0 and code 9 on J2051. This confused everyone. Code 0 means the patient has or has had the symptom but is not affected by it, including when the symptom is well controlled. Code 9 means the patient is not experiencing, treated for, or impacted by it. A new example makes the point: constipation that is well controlled on pain medication is coded 0, not 9.

Opioid items now have separate admission and HUV rules. For N0500B and N0510B, the admission uses the date the order was received, and the HUV uses the visit date. New HUV guidance says to code Yes if an opioid is started or identified as continued. The definition of opioids now explicitly includes Schedule II through IV drugs, naming hydrocodone and tramadol. N0520 gets separate admission and HUV guidance for the bowel regimen, with HUV code 2 for a new or continued regimen.

Fixing a submitted record. Section 3.8 dropped “Special” from “Special Record Deletion Request,” and corrections now go through an iQIES change request, with a link to the instructions. If your policy manual names the old process, update it.

Smaller items: the assisted living facility acronym ALF was added to item A0215 and to Appendix A along with LOS; A1905 living arrangement now reflects where the patient is at the visit rather than where they used to live; A1910 availability of assistance excludes hospice and facility staff; M1195 may draw on caregiver interview and records rather than direct observation alone; completion deadlines are now also keyed to the A0220 admission date for readmissions after a HOPE discharge; transfer guidance now includes general inpatient settings; the Open Door Forum listserv was dropped in favor of the PAC QRP listserv; and Figure 7’s colors were changed for contrast with no text change.

Where to get it: all in the Downloads section of the CMS HOPE page: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/hospice/hope

September 30, 2026 — CMS Corrects the FY 2027 Rates for Hospices That Miss HQRP Requirements

CMS published a correction notice on September 30, 2026 (CMS-1851-CN, 91 FR 61791), effective October 1, 2026. A hospital’s wage data had been omitted from the FY 2027 wage index calculation by mistake, so CMS recalculated the wage index and reprinted all four payment rate tables.

Two of those tables, Tables 3 and 4, are the rates paid to hospices that fail to meet Hospice Quality Reporting Program requirements. Those are the numbers that matter for HOPE submission, because HOPE data is how a hospice meets the requirement in the first place.

Level of care	Meets HQRP	Misses HQRP	Difference
Routine home care, days 1–60	$236.33	$227.09	$9.24 per day
Routine home care, days 61+	$186.33	$179.04	$7.29 per day
Continuous home care, 24 hrs	$1,726.16	$1,658.66	$67.50 per day
Inpatient respite care	$545.93	$524.58	$21.35 per day
General inpatient care	$1,231.51	$1,183.35	$48.16 per day

Continuous home care works out to $71.92 per hour at the compliant rate and $69.11 per hour at the reduced rate.

To put that in real terms, a hospice billing 12,000 routine home care days in the days 1–60 range over a year would collect about $110,880 less. Run the $9.24 against your own census to get your agency’s number. The penalty is not an abstraction. It is a line item.

What triggers it has not changed, and the rule is spelled out under Timeliness Compliance and HOPE below.

One thing this correction did not do: it did not change any HQRP requirement, any HOPE assessment item, any submission deadline, or any regulation text in 42 CFR Part 418. CMS corrected payment figures only. If you have already built your FY 2027 compliance plan around the 90 percent threshold and the 30-day window, nothing in it needs to be reworked.

CMS also republished the FY 2027 wage index file. It now appears on the CMS-1851-F rule page as “FY 2027 Final Hospice Wage Index — Updated 09/29/2026.” If your billing team downloaded the file in August, download it again.

September 24, 2026 — New HQRP Data Submission and Provider Reports Web-Based Training

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is providing the second part of a two-part series on Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) data submission requirements and reports. This training provides guidance on HOPE data submission and related iQIES provider reports. It is available on the Hospice Quality Reporting Training and Education Library webpage.

If you have questions about accessing this resource, email the PAC Training Mailbox. Content-related questions should be submitted to vog.shh.smcobfsctd-19fce0@snoitseuQytilauQecipsoH.

September 9, 2026 — HOPE System of Records Renamed and Expanded

CMS published a Privacy Act System of Records notice formally renaming its “Hospice Item Set (HIS) System” (System No. 09-70-0548) to “Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE),” reflecting the tool’s October 2025 rollout. The notice adds real-time data collection language, new data elements (ethnicity, preferred language, Medicare Beneficiary Identifier, and “sex” in place of “gender”), updated electronic storage and security safeguards, and a revised 10-year retention schedule.

The name change and most provisions took effect immediately. The revised routine uses take effect October 9, 2026, following a 30-day comment period. This is a records and privacy update, not a change to HOPE assessment content or submission deadlines.

September 2, 2026 — Telehealth Recertification Claims Reporting and HOPE Workflows

Effective January 1, 2027, hospices must report any face-to-face recertification encounter conducted by a hospice physician or hospice nurse practitioner via telecommunications technology using HCPCS code G0679 on the hospice claim. The implementation date is January 4, 2027, and the guidance document was issued September 2, 2026. The requirement flows from section 6209(f)(2) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, which directs that claims include one or more modifiers or codes indicating a telehealth encounter.

This is not a HOPE change. HOPE item sets, coding rules, timepoint windows, and the 30-day submission deadline are unaffected. Recertification is not a HOPE timepoint; HOPE requires the Admission, up to two HOPE Update Visits, and Discharge records. The connection is operational: agencies that pair recertification visits with HUV scheduling should confirm their billing team applies G0679 correctly when the recertification encounter was virtual, while the HOPE record continues to follow its own submission clock.

Also note the telehealth restrictions effective January 31, 2026, which remain in force. Telehealth may not be used for the face-to-face recertification encounter when the individual is in an area subject to a hospice enrollment moratorium, when the individual is receiving care from a provider subject to enhanced oversight, or when the encounter is performed by a hospice physician or nurse practitioner who is not enrolled under section 1866(j) of the Act and is not an opt-out physician or practitioner. Because a nationwide hospice enrollment moratorium took effect on May 13, 2026, CMS has clarified that the moratorium does not affect telehealth flexibility for face-to-face recertification, and that hospices already enrolled may continue conducting recertification encounters via telehealth.

Action Needed? Yes, for billing and clinical leadership. Confirm Medicare enrollment or valid opt-out status for every physician and nurse practitioner performing telehealth recertification encounters, and build the G0679 reporting path into your billing workflow before January 1, 2027.

August 26, 2026 — August 2026 Quarterly Refresh Live

The August 2026 HQRP quarterly refresh is now available on the Compare tool on Medicare.gov.

HOPE data correction deadlines for public reporting. CMS’s hospice public reporting key dates table confirms that HOPE modifications must be submitted within 4.5 months after the end of each calendar year quarter to be reflected in associated Provider Preview Reports and Care Compare refreshes.

HOPE record target dates	Correction deadline
Quarter 1, 2026 (January 1 – March 31, 2026)	August 17, 2026
Quarter 2, 2026 (April 1 – June 30, 2026)	November 16, 2026
Quarter 3, 2026 (July 1 – September 30, 2026)	February 15, 2027

Corrections submitted after these dates will be accepted by CMS but will not alter the public reporting results for those quarters.

August 25, 2026 — November 2026 Care Compare Refresh (Reissued Reports)

CMS reissued Hospice Provider Preview Reports in iQIES for the November 2026 refresh. These reissued reports contain corrections to the previously issued November 2026 Provider Preview Reports. The corrected preview period ran from August 25, 2026, through September 24, 2026, with reports remaining accessible for 60 days from the reissue date. Download and save your reports; CMS states they will no longer be available in iQIES after the 60-day period. See Quarterly Review Tool below for retrieval steps and current status.

Data windows for this refresh, per the CMS public reporting key dates table:

Assessment-based Hospice Comprehensive Assessment measures draw on Quarter 1, 2025 through Quarter 3, 2025, which is three quarters of data rather than four
CAHPS measure scores cover Quarter 1, 2024 through Quarter 4, 2025
CAHPS Star Ratings cover Quarter 4, 2023 through Quarter 3, 2025
Claims-based measures reflect Quarter 1, 2024 through Quarter 4, 2025

July 8, 2026 — iQIES Reports User Manual v2.12 Released

CMS posted an updated iQIES Reports User Manual (v2.12) through the QIES Technical Support Office (QTSO). This manual governs how providers navigate and use the iQIES reporting interface, including retrieving hospice quality measure reports, Timeliness Compliance Threshold Reports, Provider Preview Reports, and Final Validation Reports, all of which now incorporate HOPE assessment data for stays beginning on or after October 1, 2025.

This is not a change to the HOPE item set, guidance manual, or data specifications. It is a reporting-access and workflow update. All HOPE items, coding rules, and submission timelines remain unchanged.

What This Means for You: Ensure your quality and compliance staff use the current v2.12 interface guidance when running iQIES reports, particularly for HOPE-based quality measures and timeliness tracking. If your team has created internal job aids or screenshots based on older iQIES navigation, update them to reflect the v2.12 interface. Access the updated manual through the iQIES User Guides and Training Materials page under “iQIES Reports Training Materials.”

Action Needed? Recommended. Review v2.12 if your team experienced any navigation issues in iQIES. No changes to clinical practice, assessment coding, or submission timelines.

May 7, 2026 — New HQRP Comprehensive FAQ Document

CMS released a new Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document covering the HOPE tool, HQRP quality measures, data submission requirements, and reporting. This is separate from the earlier HOPE Implementation FAQs (October 2025) and provides broader guidance on the HQRP program.

Access it through the HQRP Training and Education Library. Direct content questions to vog.shh.smcobfsctd-16f6aa@snoitseuQytilauQecipsoH.

For earlier 2026 announcements, continue to 2026 HQRP & Data Specs Updates below.

FY 2027 Hospice Rule and HOPE

CMS’s FY 2027 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Requirements final rule (CMS-1851-F) includes updates related to HQRP public reporting and future quality measures. The rule was published August 3, 2026, and corrected September 30, 2026, by CMS-1851-CN. The correction changed payment figures only.

Treat HOPE v1.02 and the existing data specifications as current. Verify any new HOPE-related requirement directly in the Federal Register and on the CMS HOPE page before changing agency policies or training materials.

Plain-Language Update Summaries

iQIES Reports User Manual v2.12 (July 8, 2026)

Covered in full under Recent Announcements & Program Updates above. In short: a reporting-infrastructure update, not a clinical or regulatory change. HOPE item sets, submission timelines, and APU thresholds are unchanged. The manual reflects the current iQIES interface as CMS continues migrating all hospice reporting from CASPER to iQIES.

Version 1.02 (October 1, 2025)

What Changed: Clarified that LPNs/LVNs may complete SFVs under the supervision of an RN. Minor wording adjustment to J2053 item instructions for consistency.

What This Means for You: If your agency already allowed LPNs to conduct SFVs with RN oversight, you were compliant all along. If you restrict SFVs to RN-only, you now have the flexibility to delegate appropriately.

Action Needed? Optional. Review your delegation policy. If you choose to use LPNs for SFVs, update your policy manual and train staff on supervision requirements.

Version 1.01 (April 22, 2025)

What Changed: Clarified HUV and SFV timepoint windows. Added coding examples for several items (A0810, J0910, J2051). Refined compliance criteria language. Updated submission correction policies.

What This Means for You: Most changes were clarifications of existing guidance, not new requirements. The added examples help with consistent coding across your team.

Action Needed? Recommended. Review the change table and share relevant examples with your assessment staff during your next team meeting.

New 2026 Operations

Timeliness Compliance and HOPE

May 7, 2026 — HQRP FAQ Tool: HOPE Submission Timeliness & APU Impact

The rule in one place. Providers must submit at least 90% of all required HOPE records, Admission (ADM), both HOPE Update Visits (HUV1 and HUV2), and Discharge (DC), within the 30-day submission deadline throughout the calendar year. Falling below this threshold triggers a 4-percentage-point reduction in the Annual Payment Update. Every other section of this page that mentions the penalty refers back to this standard.

Timeliness of submission does not equal timeliness of the visit window. CMS is clear: HQRP compliance is measured by whether the HOPE record was submitted and accepted within 30 days of the assessment completion date (Z0350), not by whether the HUV was conducted within the ideal day 6 to 15 or day 16 to 30 windows. A late HUV still counts toward compliance as long as the record is submitted on time after the visit.

CY 2026 HOPE data drives FY 2028 payment. Records submitted during calendar year 2026 will be used to determine compliance for the FY 2028 Annual Payment Update (APU).

Vendor not required. Providers may continue to submit HOPE records directly in iQIES without using a third-party vendor, provided all technical and timeliness requirements are met.

What This Means for You: The HUV visit windows (day 6 to 15 for HUV1, day 16 to 30 for HUV2) remain the clinical standard and should still be your target. But if a visit is delayed for any legitimate reason, your compliance risk comes from failing to submit the record promptly, not from the late visit itself. Every accepted HOPE record matters. Missing a window is not the same as failing to meet your APU compliance.

Action Needed? Yes, assess your current practice now. Run your Hospice Timeliness Compliance Threshold Report in iQIES to see where you stand for 2026. If your submission rate is below 90%, identify where records are stalling, at the clinical, intake, or submission level. Build HOPE submission timeliness into your QAPI program as a standing metric. Share the distinction between the HUV visit window and the submission deadline with your field staff so they do not abandon a late HUV; complete it and submit it promptly.

HOPE Timeliness Waiver for Q4 2025 Assessments

Communicated April 2026

What CMS Did: As part of the FY 2027 hospice payment update materials, CMS granted a one-time waiver for HOPE timeliness requirements for assessments with target dates between October 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025. All HOPE assessments in this date range will be treated as timely, even if submitted more than 30 days after the event date.

What This Means for You: Your agency will not be penalized on the FY 2027 Annual Payment Update for late HOPE submissions with 2025 target dates. Timeliness still matters for clinical operations and internal quality, but these specific records are protected from HQRP payment reductions.

Action Needed? Yes, prospectively. Continue structuring your HOPE workflows so that 2026 and later HOPE assessments are submitted to and accepted in iQIES within 30 days. Audit your current iQIES reports to verify that your 2026 performance is trending at or above the 90% threshold.

Key Transition Dates in 2026 and Beyond

Date	Milestone
October 1, 2025	HOPE data collection officially began, replacing the HIS
January through December 2026	Calendar Year 2026 is the first full HOPE performance year
January 29 / February 18, 2026	Errata v1.00.3 to HOPE Data Submission Specifications went into production on February 18, 2026
February 15, 2026	Final deadline for submitting or correcting any remaining HIS records in QIES
February 16, 2026	CMS will no longer accept HIS records. FVRs must be requested through iQIES
February 23, 2026	The Hospice Review and Correct report will no longer be available in CASPER. Available in iQIES going forward
March 10, 2026	CMS updated the HOPE main page and posted a new explainer video clarifying HOPE timepoints and workflow
March 15, 2026	Hospice Quality Measure (QM) reports will no longer be available in CASPER. Providers must request QM reports from iQIES
May 15, 2026	Data correction deadline for Q4 2025 HIS records (target dates 10/01/25 to 12/31/25) for public reporting purposes
August 17, 2026	HOPE data correction deadline for Quarter 1, 2026 target dates
August 25 to September 24, 2026	Corrected preview period for reissued November 2026 Hospice Provider Preview Reports in iQIES
November 11, 2026	CAHPS Hospice Survey data submission deadline for Quarter 2, 2026 deaths
November 16, 2026	HOPE data correction deadline for Quarter 2, 2026 target dates, for public reporting
January 1, 2027	G0679 required on hospice claims for telehealth face-to-face recertification encounters; implementation date January 4, 2027
February 15, 2027	HOPE data correction deadline for Quarter 3, 2026 target dates

Additional Transition Milestones

The February 2026 Hospice Provider Preview reports and Hospice CAHPS Preview reports (supporting the May 2026 Care Compare refresh) were the last preview reports distributed through CASPER/QIES.

February 26, 2026 — CMS HQRP Forum “HOPE for the Future” covered implementation updates and the transition to iQIES. CMS has posted slides, transcript, and recording on the Provider and Stakeholder Engagement page for on-demand viewing.

Beginning in May 2026, Hospice Provider Preview reports and Hospice CAHPS Provider Preview reports (supporting the August 2026 refresh) are distributed through iQIES and remain available for 60 days.

One CAHPS measure, Training family to care for patient, was removed from public reporting beginning with the May 2026 refresh. See 2026 HQRP & Data Specs Updates below for what this does and does not change.

Hospice APU Non-compliance Notification letters for FY 2027 (based on CY 2025 data) were distributed through iQIES in July 2026.

CMS finalized two new HOPE-based process quality measures: Timely Follow-up for Pain Impact and Timely Follow-up for Non-Pain Symptom Impact.

What This Means for Hospice Providers

HIS submission workflows should be fully retired and replaced with HOPE processes in iQIES. Historical reports stored in CASPER are no longer accessible after the transition deadlines listed above. Quality, compliance, and billing teams must be proficient in retrieving reports within iQIES.

Organizations that rely on archived reports for benchmarking or audit documentation should download the needed files before access is removed. Internal policies referencing CASPER reporting may need to be updated to reflect iQIES as the sole reporting platform.

Failure to meet the 90% on-time submission threshold described under Timeliness Compliance and HOPE results in a 4-percentage-point reduction in the APU. For FY 2027, that turns the 2.3% payment increase into a 1.7% reduction. The dollar figures appear in the September 30, 2026 entry above.

CY 2026 is effectively a dress rehearsal year. Organizations that master clean assessment capture, error handling, and on-time submissions now will be better positioned for any future payment refinements tied to HOPE data.

What Providers Should Do Now

Confirm your organization is fully operational within iQIES for HOPE submissions. Review and validate iQIES user roles and access permissions to ensure all relevant staff have the appropriate credentials. Identify and download any needed historical FVR, Review and Correct, or QM reports before CASPER access ends.

Train quality and compliance staff on report retrieval, data submission, and error-correction processes in iQIES; refer to the updated iQIES Reports User Manual v2.12.

Monitor CMS communications for additional transition updates, including the CMS HQRP Announcements & Spotlight page and the HQRP Training and Education Library.

Review Final Validation Reports (FVRs) and the Timeliness Compliance Threshold Report in iQIES regularly to track submission acceptance rates and ensure you meet or exceed the 90% threshold.

Audit your HOPE workflows, including Symptom Follow-up Visit (SFV) processes. When pain or non-pain symptom impact is rated moderate or severe at admission or HUV, an in-person SFV must be conducted within 2 calendar days.

2026 HQRP & Data Specs Updates

This section continues the timeline from the Recent Announcements & Program Updates above and covers the first half of 2026.

HQRP Alert — Action Awareness (March 2026)

Swingtech sends updates on the quarterly Quality Reporting Program (QRP). Their latest information is on the HQRP Requirements and Best Practices webpage. To get these emails, email moc.hcetgniwsobfsctd-3f01ee@pleHPRQH with your facility’s name, CMS Certification Number (CCN), and any requested updates.

HQRP Alert — Action Awareness (February 2026)

The CAHPS measure “Training family to care for patient” was removed from Care Compare public reporting beginning with the May 2026 refresh. It is expected to resume with the February 2028 refresh. This does not change your data collection requirements; continue collecting and submitting this measure as normal.

February 26, 2026 — HQRP Forum (Completed)

CMS hosted a live webinar covering HOPE implementation and the transition to iQIES. The outcome: CMS posted an update to the QM Users Manual, a corresponding v1.04 Change Table, and an updated Current Measures list.

February 18, 2026 — HQRP Public Reporting Quarterly Refresh

The February 2026 quarterly refresh went live on Care Compare at Medicare.gov. No change to HOPE data collection, item set, or guidance manual.

Action Needed? Yes, for your QAPI team. If you have not already done so, pull your agency’s historical score on “Training family to care for patient” and document it for your records. While the measure is not publicly available, you cannot compare your performance to the national average until 2028.

January 29, 2026 — HOPE Data Specs Errata V1.00.3

Production effective: February 18, 2026

CMS posted a fourth issue to the HOPE Data Submission Specifications errata. The current guidance manual remains v1.02, and no clinical assessment requirements have changed.

The fix addresses two edits on Item A1400 (Payer Information):

Edit -3083 is removed entirely. It incorrectly required A1400B to be 0 when A1400A was 1.
Edit -3084 is changed from a FATAL error to a WARNING. Records are now accepted with a warning on the FVR instead of being rejected.

Action Needed? Yes, if you have any A1400-related rejections pending. Resubmit after February 18, 2026.

Source: HOPE Data Specs Errata V1.00.3

HOPE and Future Public Reporting

The 90%/30-day timeliness standard is already embedded in HQRP operations.

Care Compare icon. CMS has finalized a plan to add an icon to the Medicare.gov Compare tool to flag hospices that fall below HQRP submission thresholds, including HOPE data. The icon starts no earlier than fiscal year 2028, based on APU performance in calendar year 2026. It does not change measure definitions, HOPE version numbers, or Conditions of Participation. What changes is visibility: missing the threshold is no longer a quiet payment adjustment; it becomes something families and referral sources can see on a public website.

That makes the HOPE submission and correction deadlines on this page worth treating as both a reputational and a financial matter.

Quarterly Review Tool

CLOSED — November 2026 Preview Reports (Reissued). The formal 30-day preview period for the reissued Hospice Provider Preview Reports ran from August 25 through September 24, 2026, and has ended. The reports remain available in iQIES for 60 days from the August 25 reissue, which puts the download window at roughly October 24, 2026. Download and save them now if you have not already. CMS states they will no longer be available in iQIES after the 60-day period.

To retrieve them: log into iQIES with your HARP credentials, select My Reports from the Reports menu, open the Hospice Provider Preview Reports folder, and select the report name.

Next data correction deadline: HOPE records with target dates in Quarter 2, 2026 (April 1 through June 30, 2026) must be corrected by 11:59:59 p.m. ET on November 16, 2026, for public reporting purposes. After the 4.5-month deadline passes, HOPE data from that quarter is permanently frozen for public reporting, and later updates will not appear in any subsequent Compare tool refresh. The deadline is set at the record level, meaning a single patient’s Admission, HUV, and Discharge records may have different deadlines.

Next CAHPS submission deadline: Quarter 2, 2026 deaths (April through June 2026) are due November 11, 2026.

HOPE Quarterly Update Checklist

HOPE Assessment Tool Updates & Version Tracking