Your financial prep guide for AAHPM Annual Assembly 2026
The 2026 Annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care runs March 4-7 at the San Diego Convention Center. Hospice and palliative care economics are unique in healthcare: per-diem reimbursement, length-of-stay dynamics, and tightly regulated cost structures. Sorso is not an exhibitor, sponsor, or speaker at this event. This is an independent prep guide for hospice and palliative care leaders.
Why this matters for your bottom line
Hospice operates under a per-diem reimbursement model with four levels of care, each with very different economics. Knowing your length of stay and level-of-care mix is foundational to financial management.
The hospice cap on Medicare reimbursement creates a hard ceiling for organizations with longer-stay patients. Cap exposure is one of the most material financial risks specific to the industry.
Palliative care services in the outpatient and clinic setting have a different reimbursement structure (E/M, advance care planning codes). Practices building palliative programs need to model this separately from hospice.
Workforce shortages in hospice nursing and chaplaincy continue to push wages up. Programs that have not revisited staffing models in the last 24 months are often overpaying or understaffed.
What to look for
Sessions on hospice payment reform and the proposed regulatory changes affecting per-diem rates
Cap management strategies and length-of-stay analysis with real organizational data
Outpatient palliative care program buildout, including reimbursement and staffing models
Workforce sessions on nursing and chaplaincy retention in a tight labor market
Quality reporting (HQRP, CAHPS Hospice) and its growing financial implications
Mergers, acquisitions, and PE activity in the hospice and palliative care space
Financial prep checklist
Review these before you go.
Run average length of stay, median length of stay, and the share of patients above 180 days
Map your level-of-care mix: routine home care, continuous care, inpatient respite, general inpatient
Estimate your cap exposure: aggregate Medicare payments against cap amount for the current cap year
Walk through direct labor cost per patient day and the trend over the last 24 months
Audit your referral mix and the average length of stay by referral source
Compare your operating margin and per-day cost against hospice industry data for your size
From our CFO
Hospice is one of the most regulated reimbursement environments in healthcare and one of the easiest to mismanage financially. Programs that do not actively monitor cap exposure and level-of-care mix can face material recoupment risk. Before San Diego, calculate your current cap year liability and your length-of-stay distribution. If your cap exposure is material, that is the most important financial conversation to have at the Assembly.
Get a financial checkup before AAHPM Annual Assembly 2026
Take the 4-minute financial assessment. Know your numbers before you attend, so you can ask better questions and make better decisions.