Find That Hospice

Methodology

Every number, date, and label on Find That Hospice comes from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ public Provider Data Catalog (data.cms.gov) — the same data behind medicare.gov’s Care Compare. We never invent, estimate, or “fix” a value. When CMS doesn’t report something, we say “Not reported” — or show CMS’s own stated reason for the blank. Even the state and national comparison numbers are CMS’s published averages, not our own calculations.

Hospice has no overall quality star.Unlike nursing homes and home health agencies, CMS does not publish an overall 1-to-5 quality star for hospices. (CMS does compute a summary star for the family survey on its own; this site shows the underlying family-survey percentages and the clinical measures directly, rather than any star.) So this site never shows a hospice star and never invents an overall one. If another site boils a hospice down to a single overall “quality star,” treat it with caution.

The datasets

CMS refreshes hospice data periodically; this site rebuilds from the latest files. Current data last updated: April 13, 2026 · quality-measure period: 07/01/2024-06/30/2025 · family-survey collection period: 07/01/2023-06/30/2025. CMS data itself lags reality — measures reflect past periods of care, not this week’s.

What each number means

What hospice is

Hospice is a Medicare benefit for people who are no longer seeking to cure a serious illness and want comfort, dignity, and support instead. A team — nurses, aides, a doctor, a social worker, a chaplain, trained volunteers — comes to wherever the person lives, whether that's home, a nursing home, or an inpatient hospice unit. The goal shifts from fighting the illness to living as well as possible, managing pain and symptoms, and caring for the family too. Choosing hospice is not giving up; it's choosing where to put everyone's energy.

What to do with this: know that hospice care can start earlier than most families realize — asking about it is not the same as deciding, and you can change your mind.

Why hospices have no overall quality star

For nursing homes and home health agencies, CMS publishes an overall 1-to-5 quality star. For hospices, it does not: there is no overall hospice quality star in the public data. (CMS does calculate a summary star for the family survey on its own — but that reflects only the survey, not overall quality.) That's why this page leads with the real numbers — the percent of families who gave each positive answer, and the clinical measure percentages — rather than boiling them into a single star. It's more to read, but it's more honest: a star hides which part is strong and which is weak, and hospice care is exactly the kind of thing that shouldn't be reduced to one number.

What to do with this: if a site boils a hospice down to a single overall 'quality star', be skeptical — CMS doesn't publish one. Compare the family-survey and measure percentages here instead.

The CAHPS Hospice family survey

After a death, CMS sends a standardized survey to the primary family caregiver of a sample of each hospice's patients, asking what the experience was really like: did the team help with pain and symptoms, did they communicate, did they come when you needed them, did they treat your person with respect, and did they support you emotionally and spiritually. Those answers are reported as 'top-box' percentages — the share of families who gave the most positive answer. It measures the family's experience, which is much of what hospice is about, but it can't capture everything, and grieving families answer through the lens of the hardest days.

What to do with this: read these numbers next to how many families answered — a score built on a handful of surveys is a hint, not a verdict.

When survey scores are 'Not reported'

Not every family is surveyed, and not everyone responds. When too few families complete the survey, CMS suppresses the scores and shows a footnote instead of a number — that footnote is CMS's own words, shown here verbatim. A hospice with 'Not reported' survey scores is not a bad hospice; it usually means it's small, new, or served fewer patients in the survey period. Absence of a score is never a mark against a hospice.

What to do with this: if the survey is blank, lean on the quality measures below and — most of all — on the conversation you have with the team.

Overall rating (9 or 10)

This is the closest thing to an overall grade families give: the percent who, asked to rate the hospice from 0 to 10, chose a 9 or a 10. It rolls a lot together — the nurse who called back, the aide who was gentle, whether help came at 2 a.m. Compared to the state and national averages shown beside it, it tells you how this hospice's families felt relative to others.

What to do with this: use it as a starting temperature, then ask the hospice what families most often thank them for, and what they're working to do better.

Would definitely recommend

Families were asked whether they'd recommend the hospice to friends and family who needed care. This counts only the strongest answer — 'definitely' — which is a high bar, so numbers in the 80s are common and good. It's a gut-level summary of trust: would the person who just went through it send someone they love here.

What to do with this: a gap below the state average is worth a gentle question — ask what the team would want a new family to know going in.

Getting timely help

In hospice, timing is everything — a symptom at night, a fall, a sudden change. This measure captures how often families felt the team responded when they needed it. It's one of the most practical numbers here, because the hardest moments rarely happen during business hours.

What to do with this: ask exactly who you call after hours, how fast a nurse can come to the home, and whether a nurse can visit at night.

Help with pain & symptoms

Comfort is the core promise of hospice — managing pain, breathlessness, nausea, restlessness. This measure captures how often families felt that promise was kept. It depends on the team's skill and on how quickly they respond when something changes, which is why it moves together with the timely-help measure.

What to do with this: ask how the team assesses and adjusts pain medicine, and what they do when the first plan isn't working.

Emotional & spiritual support

Hospice cares for the family, not only the patient — before and after the death. This measure captures whether families felt supported emotionally and spiritually, in whatever way mattered to them. It includes the chaplain, the social worker, and the bereavement support that continues for months after.

What to do with this: ask what grief and bereavement support looks like for the family, and for how long after, so you know it's there before you need it.

Treated with respect

Dignity is hard to measure and impossible to fake at the bedside. This measure captures how often families felt their person was treated with respect — as a whole human being, by name, with their wishes honored. It tends to run high across hospices, which makes a lower number worth a closer look.

What to do with this: trust your own read on this during the first visit — how the team speaks to and about your person tells you a great deal.

The clinical quality measures

Alongside the family survey, CMS reports clinical quality measures for each hospice. Most are 'process' measures: did the team do the recommended thing — screen for pain, assess it properly, screen for shortness of breath and treat it, ask about and document treatment preferences and beliefs. Because most are reported by the hospice about its own care, they tend to run very high (often above 95%), so small differences matter more than they look. The most meaningful one for families is often the visits-in-the-last-days measure, which reflects showing up when it counts most.

What to do with this: don't over-read a 98 vs a 99. Look for numbers that fall clearly below the national average, and ask the team about those.

Visits in the last days of life

This measure counts how often a hospice sent a nurse or aide to see the patient in the final days — the time when symptoms often change fast and families feel most alone. Unlike the process measures, this is closer to an outcome: it reflects staffing, on-call coverage, and priorities. National numbers sit around the high 40s, so this is one measure where there's real spread between hospices.

What to do with this: ask directly how often someone will visit as things change near the end, and whether that includes nights and weekends.

Ownership types

CMS records each hospice's ownership type. The hospice field has shifted heavily toward for-profit ownership over the last two decades, and researchers have studied differences in patterns of care between for-profit and nonprofit hospices. But ownership sets incentives, not destiny: there are excellent and poor hospices in every category. The survey and measures on this page are a far better guide to any single hospice than its ownership label.

What to do with this: note it, ask how the hospice is staffed and who owns it, then judge it on its numbers and your own conversation — not the label.

Medicare certification

Every hospice on this site is Medicare-certified, which requires meeting federal conditions of participation and periodic review. Certification is a floor, not a rating — it means the hospice is allowed to operate and bill Medicare, not that it performs well. The certification date shows how long it's been in the program; newer hospices often show 'not enough data reported yet' on measures and survey.

What to do with this: treat certification as the entry ticket. The survey and measures on this page are how you compare one hospice to another.

Why a value can be blank (CMS footnotes)

When CMS suppresses or omits a value, it publishes a numbered footnote. We show the meaning in place of the blank, taken verbatim from CMS’s official Footnote Crosswalk (y9us-9xdf):

CodeMeaning
1The number of cases/patients is too few to report.
2Data submitted were based on a sample of cases/patients.
3Results are based on a shorter time period than required.
4Data suppressed by CMS for one or more quarters.
5Results are not available for this reporting period.
6Fewer than 100 patients completed the CAHPS survey. Use these scores with caution, as the number of surveys may be too low to reliably assess facility performance.
7No cases met the criteria for this measure.
8The lower limit of the confidence interval cannot be calculated if the number of observed infections equals zero.
9No data are available from the state/territory for this reporting period.
10Very few patients were eligible for the CAHPS survey. The scores shown reflect fewer than 50 completed surveys. Use these scores with caution, as the number of surveys may be too low to reliably assess facility performance.
11There were discrepancies in the data collection process.
12This measure does not apply to this provider for this reporting period.
13Results cannot be calculated for this reporting period.
14The results for this state are combined with nearby states to protect confidentiality.
15The number of cases/patients is too few to report a star rating.

What this data can’t tell you

Attribution

Data: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (data.cms.gov), public domain, last updated April 13, 2026. Find That Hospice is not affiliated with CMS, Medicare, or any government agency. Found an error? Suggest a correction.

← Back to search