CMS Issues Final FY 2015 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update – On August 4, 2014, CMS released the Final Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update for FY 2015. Among other items, the final rule notably increases per diem hospice rates by 2.1%, which reflects a 2.9% market basket and a required reduction of 0.8% by the Affordable Care Act, but reduces the rate increase by an additional 0.1% for a wage index change and an additional 0.6% for the sixth year of the Budget Neutrality Adjustment. Thus, CMS expects an overall increase to hospices of 1.4%. The final rule is effective October 1, 2014, and is expected to be published in the Federal Register on August 22, 2014. A display copy is available here and CMS’s fact sheet describing the final rule is available here.