How to Use Medicare Care Compare for Hospice

Medicare Care Compare is the federal government's free, official website for finding and comparing Medicare-certified hospices by location, family-survey ratings, and quality measures. You reach it at medicare.gov/care-compare, choose the hospice category, and enter your ZIP code or city to see the providers that serve your area.

Step by step

The tool is designed to be used quickly, even by someone who has never compared health providers before. Here is the full path from a blank search to a usable shortlist:

1. Go to medicare.gov/care-compare and select Hospice as the provider type. The site also lists hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies, so make sure you are in the hospice section.
2. Enter your ZIP code or city. The results show hospices that serve your area, not only those with an office on your street.
3. Open each provider's profile to view its quality measures and CAHPS family-survey results.
4. Use the compare feature to put up to three hospices side by side, which makes the differences in their scores far easier to see than flipping between tabs.
5. Write down the phone numbers of your top two or three so you can call them directly.

One important note about how the search works: a hospice is listed based on the service area it covers, not only its physical address. A provider headquartered one town over may still come to your home. So the list reflects "hospices that serve your area," which is exactly the population a family wants to see.

What you'll see on each profile

Every hospice profile gathers several kinds of information in one place:

• CAHPS family-survey scores — ratings from bereaved caregivers on communication, getting timely help, treating the patient with respect, emotional and spiritual support, and whether they would recommend the hospice. Learn to interpret them in how to read CAHPS scores.
• Quality measures — process indicators such as the share of patients screened for pain and shortness of breath on admission. See what quality measures actually tell you.
• Basic facts — ownership type (for-profit, nonprofit, or government), address, phone number, and confirmation of Medicare certification.

The measures, plainly explained

The percentages on a hospice profile come from two different sources, and it helps to know which is which. The family-survey (CAHPS) measures are subjective: bereaved families answer questions months after the death about how the care felt. The quality measures are objective process checks pulled from the hospice's own records. Reading them together gives the fullest picture.

Reading the scores without being misled

Scores are reported as percentages, and some may be marked not available or too few surveys to report. A blank does not mean bad care — it most often means a small or newly certified hospice hasn't gathered enough completed surveys to publish a reliable figure. The most useful habit is to compare each number against the state and national averages the page shows beside it. A hospice at 90% on a measure where the national average is 80% is doing well; the same 90% means less if everyone scores 95%.

It also helps to look at several indicators together rather than fixating on one. A provider can post a strong pain-screening percentage and still fall short on the family-recommend rate, which tells you more about overall experience.

A simple decision path for using the results

Once you have a few profiles open, a short branching routine keeps you from drowning in numbers:

• If a hospice has full published scores — compare its "would recommend" and "timely help" figures to the state and national averages, and keep the ones at or above average on your shortlist.
• If a hospice shows blanks or "too few surveys" — do not rule it out; instead, lean harder on direct questions about staffing and after-hours coverage, and ask for references. Newness or small size is the usual explanation.
• If two hospices look nearly identical on paper — let the phone call decide. Ask each the same crisis-and-coverage questions and compare the answers.
• If a hospice is not listed at all — verify whether it is genuinely Medicare-certified before going further, since only certified agencies appear here. See how to verify a hospice is Medicare-certified.

Correcting the misconception

Families often arrive expecting a single "star rating" that ranks hospices the way Care Compare ranks nursing homes. Hospice reporting centers on CAHPS family scores and quality measures rather than one overall star number, so you'll need to read a handful of indicators together instead of trusting one figure. Treat Care Compare as your starting shortlist and verification tool — not a final verdict. It confirms a provider is genuinely Medicare-certified and shows its track record, but it cannot tell you how a nurse will respond at 2 a.m. or whether a particular aide will be gentle and consistent with your loved one.

Use it together with a phone call

Care Compare narrows the field; a direct conversation closes the deal. After you shortlist two or three providers, call each one and ask about after-hours coverage, staffing for your loved one's specific diagnosis, how quickly they can admit a new patient, and what happens during a weekend crisis. The answers to those questions — which no website fully captures — often separate two hospices whose published scores look nearly identical. Pair the data with a structured comparison so you weigh the same factors for each.

Frequently asked questions

Is Care Compare free, and do I need a Medicare account?

It is completely free and requires no login or account. Anyone can search and view hospice profiles, whether or not the patient has Medicare yet.

Why does a hospice show no scores at all?

The most common reason is that the agency has not had enough completed family surveys to publish a statistically reliable figure — typical for newer or smaller hospices. It is not a poor score and should not be read as one. Use questions and references to fill the gap.

Does a higher score guarantee better care for my loved one?

No. Scores reflect the experiences of past families and are a strong starting signal, but they cannot predict how a specific nurse or aide will perform with your loved one, or how the team handles your particular diagnosis. Always pair the data with a conversation.

Can I compare hospices outside my immediate area?

Yes. You can search any ZIP code or city, which is useful if you are arranging care for a parent in another state or weighing whether a provider one town over serves your address.

How current is the data?

CMS refreshes the public hospice data periodically, so figures can lag real-world changes in staffing or leadership. Treat the scores as a recent track record, not a live snapshot, and confirm current details with the agency.

Your practical next step

Pull up Care Compare, build a shortlist of nearby hospices, and note both their family-survey scores and quality measures alongside the state and national averages. Then compare hospices near you here and call your top choices to ask what the data can't show. Doing both — reading the numbers and speaking with a person — gives you a far clearer picture than either alone.