Free data · Hospice
Hospice Cost Report Benchmarks
In FY 2024, the median freestanding hospice reported a cost of $159 per patient day across all levels of care, based on 4,978 cost reports filed with CMS. Routine home care cost a median $154 a day and general inpatient care $1,087. The median all-payer operating margin was 2.1%.
Data year: FY 2024 (latest complete year) Updated October 22, 2026
Key findings, FY 2024
Hospice benchmarks at a glance
$159
Median cost per patient day, all levels of care
Across 4,978 hospices. The middle half of agencies reported $130 to $196 a day.
Source: CMS HCRIS hospice cost reports (Form CMS-1984-14), FY 2024
$154
Median cost per day, routine home care
Routine home care is the everyday level of care. The middle half of agencies reported $127 to $188 a day.
Source: CMS HCRIS hospice cost reports (Form CMS-1984-14), FY 2024
$1,087
Median cost per day, general inpatient care
Continuous home care had a median of $1,108 a day and inpatient respite $550 a day.
Source: CMS HCRIS hospice cost reports (Form CMS-1984-14), FY 2024
2.1%
Median all-payer operating margin
Net patient revenue minus operating expenses, as a share of net patient revenue, across 4,649 hospices. It includes costs Medicare does not allow.
Source: CMS HCRIS hospice cost reports (Form CMS-1984-14), FY 2024
98.7%
Share of all patient days that were routine home care
Pooled across all hospices. General inpatient care was 0.8% of days, inpatient respite 0.3% and continuous home care 0.2%.
Source: CMS HCRIS hospice cost reports (Form CMS-1984-14), FY 2024
39.4%
Share of hospices that provided general inpatient care
30.9% provided continuous home care, and 56.6% provided inpatient respite, out of 5,079 hospices.
Source: CMS HCRIS hospice cost reports (Form CMS-1984-14), FY 2024
National, FY 2024
National hospice benchmarks
Quartiles are across agencies. Share metrics also show a pooled value: total numerator divided by total denominator across all agencies, so large agencies count for more.
| Metric | Agencies (n) | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | Pooled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per day, all levels of care | 4,978 | $129.71 | $159.04 | $195.64 | n/a |
| Cost per day, continuous home care | 1,538 | $452.19 | $1,107.72 | $1,891.25 | n/a |
| Cost per day, routine home care | 4,965 | $126.64 | $153.73 | $188.49 | n/a |
| Cost per day, inpatient respite care | 2,817 | $386.65 | $550.21 | $750.35 | n/a |
| Cost per day, general inpatient care | 1,961 | $777.08 | $1,087.42 | $1,502.35 | n/a |
| Share of days, continuous home care | 5,079 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| Share of days, routine home care | 5,079 | 99.4% | 99.8% | 100.0% | 98.7% |
| Share of days, inpatient respite care | 5,079 | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Share of days, general inpatient care | 5,079 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.8% |
| Agencies providing continuous home care | 5,079 | Pooled share only | 30.9% | ||
| Agencies providing inpatient respite care | 5,079 | Pooled share only | 56.6% | ||
| Agencies providing general inpatient care | 5,079 | Pooled share only | 39.4% | ||
| Medicare share of days | 5,079 | 89.6% | 94.9% | 99.0% | 91.9% |
| All-payer operating margin | 4,649 | -14.1% | 2.1% | 13.6% | n/a |
| Total patient days per agency | 4,977 | 5,986 | 13,271 | 28,997 | n/a |
By state, FY 2024
Hospice benchmarks by state
Pick a metric and sort by any column. States with fewer than 11 agencies for a metric are not shown.
Select a column heading to sort. Data year: FY 2024.
| Alabama | 75 | $108.89 | $129.73 | $159.71 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 3 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| Arizona | 189 | $123.88 | $147.22 | $171.15 |
| Arkansas | 37 | $100.44 | $123.25 | $161.23 |
| California | 1,570 | $150.85 | $179.86 | $214.33 |
| Colorado | 66 | $153.37 | $174.55 | $232.31 |
| Connecticut | 8 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| Delaware | 10 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| District of Columbia | 3 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| Florida | 49 | $134.47 | $166.02 | $188.91 |
| Georgia | 218 | $126.76 | $148.13 | $178.74 |
| Hawaii | 10 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| Idaho | 34 | $123.68 | $152.06 | $175.40 |
| Illinois | 98 | $132.08 | $155.09 | $180.82 |
| Indiana | 77 | $124.48 | $149.16 | $188.13 |
| Iowa | 38 | $131.66 | $147.97 | $190.83 |
| Kansas | 52 | $135.79 | $158.07 | $187.79 |
| Kentucky | 17 | $170.07 | $194.89 | $216.30 |
| Louisiana | 107 | $110.62 | $124.75 | $150.05 |
| Maine | 9 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| Maryland | 19 | $136.99 | $154.37 | $199.66 |
| Massachusetts | 54 | $145.70 | $177.91 | $197.97 |
| Michigan | 134 | $116.98 | $148.31 | $180.04 |
| Minnesota | 40 | $131.35 | $175.21 | $225.66 |
| Mississippi | 68 | $112.78 | $136.70 | $150.05 |
| Missouri | 91 | $125.42 | $143.76 | $167.80 |
| Montana | 13 | $123.25 | $145.11 | $167.27 |
| Nebraska | 21 | $130.16 | $140.73 | $150.66 |
| Nevada | 102 | $137.02 | $163.39 | $184.16 |
| New Hampshire | 9 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| New Jersey | 47 | $157.90 | $176.28 | $205.40 |
| New Mexico | 35 | $120.62 | $146.61 | $240.04 |
| New York | 30 | $198.38 | $213.50 | $247.46 |
| North Carolina | 56 | $132.07 | $159.62 | $209.25 |
| North Dakota | 2 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| Ohio | 134 | $120.25 | $140.75 | $176.30 |
| Oklahoma | 107 | $123.36 | $138.66 | $169.66 |
| Oregon | 51 | $159.53 | $197.41 | $247.52 |
| Pennsylvania | 126 | $130.23 | $150.05 | $190.46 |
| Puerto Rico | 37 | $98.69 | $114.40 | $137.44 |
| Rhode Island | 7 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| South Carolina | 73 | $123.99 | $145.17 | $177.83 |
| South Dakota | 5 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| Tennessee | 50 | $108.66 | $131.06 | $155.82 |
| Texas | 765 | $122.48 | $147.97 | $180.55 |
| Utah | 50 | $128.34 | $149.12 | $193.31 |
| Vermont | 1 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
| Virginia | 75 | $126.72 | $149.75 | $188.46 |
| Washington | 25 | $172.88 | $194.97 | $253.28 |
| West Virginia | 15 | $139.44 | $164.72 | $181.09 |
| Wisconsin | 54 | $118.13 | $143.46 | $169.24 |
| Wyoming | 6 | Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies) | ||
Size and ownership, FY 2024
By agency size and ownership type
By agency size (total patient days)
| Size band | Median: Cost per day, all levels of care | Median: All-payer operating margin | Median: Total patient days per agency | Agencies (n) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 5,000 | $187.11 | 1.5% | 2,927 | 1,014 |
| 5,000-19,999 | $159.78 | 2.1% | 10,688 | 2,155 |
| 20,000-49,999 | $145.22 | 2.9% | 30,245 | 1,144 |
| 50,000+ | $149.49 | 0.8% | 76,281 | 665 |
By ownership type
| Ownership | Median: Cost per day, all levels of care | Median: All-payer operating margin | Median: Total patient days per agency | Agencies (n) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| For-profit | $155.61 | 3.4% | 12,209 | 4,391 |
| Nonprofit | $190.86 | -17.0% | 26,946 | 568 |
| Government | $182.04 | -9.6% | 6,237 | 19 |
Trend
How the national median has moved
National medians by year, FY 2015 to FY 2024. FY 2025 is incomplete and still filling in, so it is left out. Each chart can be embedded or downloaded, free with credit.
View the data table
| Year | All levels of care |
|---|---|
| FY 2015 | $134 |
| FY 2016 | $134 |
| FY 2017 | $134 |
| FY 2018 | $135 |
| FY 2019 | $136 |
| FY 2020 | $138 |
| FY 2021 | $145 |
| FY 2022 | $153 |
| FY 2023 | $157 |
| FY 2024 | $159 |
View the data table
| Year | All-payer operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY 2015 | -2.6% |
| FY 2016 | -1.4% |
| FY 2017 | -0.6% |
| FY 2018 | -0.3% |
| FY 2019 | 0.4% |
| FY 2020 | 0.7% |
| FY 2021 | 1.0% |
| FY 2022 | 0.2% |
| FY 2023 | 1.8% |
| FY 2024 | 2.1% |
View the data table
| Year | General inpatient care |
|---|---|
| FY 2015 | $876 |
| FY 2016 | $855 |
| FY 2017 | $866 |
| FY 2018 | $824 |
| FY 2019 | $882 |
| FY 2020 | $1,042 |
| FY 2021 | $1,095 |
| FY 2022 | $1,052 |
| FY 2023 | $1,187 |
| FY 2024 | $1,087 |
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Source: Soriaga & Associates, LLC, "Hospice Cost Report Benchmarks" (FY 2024), https://www.soriagacpa.com/hospice-cost-report-benchmarks, based on CMS HCRIS data. CC BY 4.0.
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<p>Source: <a href="https://www.soriagacpa.com/hospice-cost-report-benchmarks">Hospice Cost Report Benchmarks, Soriaga & Associates, LLC</a> (CMS data, FY 2024). CC BY 4.0.</p>
APA style
Soriaga & Associates, LLC. (2026). Hospice Cost Report Benchmarks: FY 2024 CMS data [Data set]. https://www.soriagacpa.com/hospice-cost-report-benchmarks
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Our tables, charts and text are licensed CC BY 4.0 with credit to Soriaga & Associates, LLC and a link to this page. The underlying CMS data is public domain.
Methodology
How we built these numbers
Source
We use the cost reports hospices file with CMS on Form CMS-1984-14, published as the CMS HCRIS hospice files. CMS source page Only freestanding hospices are included.
Year definition. Federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) of the cost reporting period's begin date. FY 2023 means periods beginning 10/1/2022 through 9/30/2023.
Cleaning rules
- Start with 5,316 reports in the CMS file for FY 2024. Remove 0 with no financial data, costs or days.
- Remove 237 partial-year reports (a period under 300 or over 430 days), so partial years are not mixed with full years.
- Keep one report per provider per year (the longest period). 0 duplicates were dropped in FY 2024.
- Leave out the lowest and highest 1 percent of values for each metric (outliers), for that metric only. Share and provider-count metrics are not trimmed.
- Margins use only agencies with positive net patient revenue, and margins below −100% or above +100% are excluded as data errors.
- Suppress any cell with fewer than 11 agencies. No agency names, provider numbers or addresses are published.
Result for FY 2024: 5,079 cleaned cost reports.
Size bands and ownership
Size bands use total patient days per agency: Under 5,000, 5,000-19,999, 20,000-49,999, 50,000+. Ownership is the type of control reported on the cost report: for-profit (proprietary), nonprofit and government.
Metric definitions
Show all 15 metric definitions
- Cost per day, all levels of care
- Average cost per day, all levels of care, as filed (Worksheet C line 23 col 3). If the filed value is missing, total cost divided by total unduplicated days (lines 21 and 22).
- Cost per day, continuous home care
- Average cost per day for continuous home care as filed (Worksheet C line 3 col 3), only for agencies that report days at this level. If the filed value is missing, cost divided by days (lines 1 and 2).
- Cost per day, routine home care
- Average cost per day for routine home care as filed (Worksheet C line 8 col 3), only for agencies that report days at this level. If the filed value is missing, cost divided by days (lines 6 and 7).
- Cost per day, inpatient respite care
- Average cost per day for inpatient respite care as filed (Worksheet C line 13 col 3), only for agencies that report days at this level. If the filed value is missing, cost divided by days (lines 11 and 12).
- Cost per day, general inpatient care
- Average cost per day for general inpatient care as filed (Worksheet C line 18 col 3), only for agencies that report days at this level. If the filed value is missing, cost divided by days (lines 16 and 17).
- Share of days, continuous home care
- Each agency's days of continuous home care divided by its total days (blank days count as zero). Quartiles and mean are across agencies. The pooled value is total days at this level divided by total days across all agencies in the group.
- Share of days, routine home care
- Each agency's days of routine home care divided by its total days (blank days count as zero). Quartiles and mean are across agencies. The pooled value is total days at this level divided by total days across all agencies in the group.
- Share of days, inpatient respite care
- Each agency's days of inpatient respite care divided by its total days (blank days count as zero). Quartiles and mean are across agencies. The pooled value is total days at this level divided by total days across all agencies in the group.
- Share of days, general inpatient care
- Each agency's days of general inpatient care divided by its total days (blank days count as zero). Quartiles and mean are across agencies. The pooled value is total days at this level divided by total days across all agencies in the group.
- Agencies providing continuous home care
- Share of agencies reporting more than zero days of continuous home care. Published only in the pooled field; n is the number of agencies.
- Agencies providing inpatient respite care
- Share of agencies reporting more than zero days of inpatient respite care. Published only in the pooled field; n is the number of agencies.
- Agencies providing general inpatient care
- Share of agencies reporting more than zero days of general inpatient care. Published only in the pooled field; n is the number of agencies.
- Medicare share of days
- Each agency's Title XVIII (Medicare) days divided by its total days, all levels of care. Quartiles and mean are across agencies. The pooled value is total Medicare days divided by total days across all agencies in the group.
- All-payer operating margin
- (Net patient revenue minus total operating expenses) divided by net patient revenue. Only where net patient revenue is above zero; margins outside -100% to +100% are excluded as data errors.
- Total patient days per agency
- Total days of hospice care, all payers and levels of care.
Read before you use it
Limitations
- Cost reports are provider-filed and may be unaudited.
- The data mixes reports at different CMS statuses (as submitted, settled, reopened) because CMS keeps the highest status per report.
- All-payer operating margins include costs that Medicare does not allow.
- Partial-year reports (period under 300 or over 430 days) are excluded.
- The newest year is incomplete and fills in over time, so headline figures use the latest complete year.
- Figures are not risk-adjusted or wage-adjusted.
- Cells with fewer than 11 agencies are suppressed. No provider-level data is published.
- Freestanding hospices only. Hospital-, SNF- and HHA-based hospices file other cost report forms.
- FY 2025 is incomplete and still filling in, so it is not used for any headline figure.
General information from public CMS filings, not an audit, a valuation or advice for your agency.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by CMS or HHS.
Where the data comes from
Sources
FAQ
Hospice cost report benchmark questions, answered
Want these medians applied to your own agency? Book a free review.
What is the median hospice cost per day?
In FY 2024, the median hospice cost per patient day across all levels of care was $159.04, based on 4,978 freestanding hospice cost reports. The middle half of agencies reported $130 to $196.
How much does routine home care cost a hospice per day?
In FY 2024, the median routine home care cost was $153.73 per day, based on 4,965 cost reports.
What is the median cost of general inpatient hospice care?
In FY 2024, the median general inpatient cost was $1,087.42 per day across 1,961 hospices that reported it. Continuous home care had a median of $1,107.72 and inpatient respite $550.21.
What is the typical hospice operating margin?
In FY 2024, the median all-payer operating margin was 2.1% across 4,649 hospices. It includes costs Medicare does not allow, so it is not a Medicare payment margin.
How many hospices provide general inpatient care?
In FY 2024, 39.4% of 5,079 hospices reported general inpatient days, and 30.9% reported continuous home care days.
Where does this data come from?
It comes from the cost reports hospices file with CMS (Form CMS-1984-14), published by CMS as the HCRIS hospice files. We read the CMS files, clean them with documented rules, and publish only aggregates. No agency names, provider numbers or addresses appear.
How current is this data?
The latest complete year is FY 2024, with 5,079 cleaned cost reports. Federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) of the cost reporting period's begin date. FY 2023 means periods beginning 10/1/2022 through 9/30/2023. The tables were last built on October 22, 2026. We update them when CMS adds a new year of data. The newest hospice year is still filling in, so we do not publish it as a headline.
Can I use these numbers?
Yes. Our tables, charts and text are licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Please credit Soriaga & Associates, LLC and link to https://www.soriagacpa.com/hospice-cost-report-benchmarks. The underlying CMS data is public domain. The "Cite this data" box on this page has a credit line, an HTML link and an APA citation you can copy.
How does my agency compare?
Book a free review at https://www.soriagacpa.com/book-online. We compare your cost report or your books with these medians, by state and size, and explain what the gaps may mean. The numbers here are medians of hospice filings, not a target for any one agency.
Are cost reports audited?
Not always. Cost reports are provider-filed and may be unaudited. The data also mixes reports at different CMS statuses (as submitted, settled and reopened), because CMS keeps the highest status for each report. Treat the figures as general information from public filings.
Why are some states not shown?
Any state or group with fewer than 11 agencies for a metric is suppressed and shown as "Not shown (fewer than 11 agencies)". That protects small groups, and no provider-level data is published.
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