Regulation | United States |
Final rule widens who may discharge, updates telehealth face-to-face rules
Physician designees and the IDG physician may now discharge patients, alongside the medical director.
The FY 2027 rule, published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2026 (91 FR 49118), allows a physician designee and the physician member of the interdisciplinary group, in addition to the hospice medical director, to discharge a patient from hospice care.
It also makes conforming changes to the hospice telehealth face-to-face policy under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, and summarizes comments CMS received on enhancing community palliative care services.