Hospice cost report data: what the public files contain and how to read them
Every Medicare-certified freestanding hospice files Form CMS-1984-14 each fiscal year. CMS publishes the filed worksheets as the HCRIS public use files (one zip, all years, public domain). The FY2025 file holds 4,558 hospices; across FY2020-2025 the files cover 6,433 CCNs. This site reads the files directly; nothing is typed by hand.
Source: CMS HCRIS hospice cost report public use files (Form CMS-1984-14, public domain), FY2025 file, one latest usable report per CCN; universe = freestanding hospices with a usable Medicare cost report in the FY2025 file; fiscal years ending 2025-03-13 to 2026-06-30. Medians over hospices with plausible per-day figures (cost per day USD 40-1,000 and net margin within ±60%; the rest are counted but excluded from medians as likely reporting-unit errors). Per-day figures divide Worksheet F-2 totals by S-1 total patient days; cost shares come from Worksheet A column 7 over line 100. Data as of 2026-11-09.
The worksheets we use
| Worksheet | What it gives | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| S-1 Part II | Patient days by level of care (routine, continuous, inpatient respite, general inpatient) and by payer (Medicare, Medicaid, other) | Size band, Medicare share, level-of-care mix, the per-day denominator |
| S-1 Part I / S-2 | Identification, control type, fiscal period | Name, city, state, ownership class, FY end. Preparer contact rows are never read. |
| A, column 7 | Cost by cost centre after reclassifications and adjustments; line 100 = total | Salary, nursing, aide, administrative, general-service, pharmacy, DME and advertising shares |
| F-2 | Gross and net patient revenue, total revenue, total expenses, net income | Revenue and cost per patient day, net margin, contractual allowances |
What the form does not collect
No visit counts, no staff FTE figures, no census, no patient counts. Staffing intensity can only be read as cost shares. Quality measures (CAHPS, HIS) live in Care Compare, not in the cost report; the USD 149 trend page shows the Care Compare listing details next to the cost figures.
Limits
- Most reports are "as submitted": filed by the hospice, not yet audited by the Medicare contractor; figures can be amended later.
- Fiscal years differ by hospice; the file year groups reports by the fiscal year they begin in.
- A minority of filers report in the wrong unit (cost per day of USD 29,590 in one Georgia report): medians on this site exclude cost per day outside USD 40-1,000 and margins beyond ±60%, and say how many were excluded.
- Hospital-based, SNF-based and home-health-based hospices file inside the parent provider's cost report and are not here.
National medians, FY2025 file
| Metric | Median | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hospices in the file | 4,558 | |
| With plausible per-day figures (medians below) | 4,162 | cost/day USD 40-1,000 and |margin| ≤ 60% |
| Nonprofit | 458 | |
| Median patient days | 14,424 | |
| Total revenue per patient day | $202.44 | |
| Total expenses per patient day | $186.17 | quartiles $154.40 – $228.00 |
| Net margin | 7.8% | quartiles -0.8% – 18.3% |
| Reporting a net loss | 27.0% | |
| Medicare share of patient days | 96.1% | |
| Routine home care share of days | 99.8% | |
| Salaries % of total cost | 47.9% | Worksheet A |
| RN + LPN + NP cost % of total | 19.7% | |
| Hospice aide cost % of total | 5.5% | |
| Administrative & general % of total cost | 32.1% | line 4, before step-down |
| General service cost centres % of total | 53.1% | lines 1-16 |
| Pharmacy + drugs per patient day | $5.95 |
The paid report
USD 99, one time: your hospice vs the 10 closest named freestanding hospices (same state and patient-day band, nearest by days; census region or national pool stated when the state has fewer than 10): revenue and cost per patient day, net margin, Medicare and Medicaid day share, level-of-care mix, salary / nursing / aide / administrative / general-service shares of cost, drugs and DME per day, advertising share, each with your percentile in the full pool, and a Care Compare link per peer. Emailed within 1 business day. One free re-run within 14 days if a peer does not fit.
Get the report — USD 99 With 5-year trend — USD 149
USD 149 adds the five-year trend page: your hospice each cost-report year FY2020-2025 against that year's state median in your band, plus the Care Compare listing details. Full refund if no peer group can be formed. See the real sample.