Hospice

Per the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Hospice PEPPER will be available through the PEPPER Portal in early June 2026. To ensure providers can successfully access their reports, please follow the instructions below.

The Hospice PEPPER will be available through the PEPPER Portal to Authorized Officials (AOs), Access Managers (AMs), and Staff End Users (SEUs) who have been granted the PEPPER business function in the CMS Identity & Access Management (I&A) System.

To become a Staff End User (SEU) and access your organization's PEPPER:

1. Log in to the CMS I&A System using your existing NPPES or PECOS credentials.
2. Request the PEPPER business function under your organization.
3. Obtain approval from your organization's AO or AM (only AOs and AMs can approve SEU access).
4. Once approved, log in to the PEPPER Portal using the same credentials to download your organization's PEPPER.

Authorized Officials and Access Managers can find step-by-step instructions in the I&A Quick Reference Guide and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

If users need help identifying their AO or AM, or have questions about their request, they may contact the PECOS External User Services (EUS) Help Desk.

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Hillary Loeffler
National Alliance for Care at Home
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The Hospice PEPPER is now available via the PEPPER portal. The hospice PEPPER User Guide is also available. Hospices must download the PEPPER from the portal. The PEPPER is for FY2025 and displays claims data for the most recent three federal fiscal years.  

The PEPPER - Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) - is a Microsoft Excel file summarizing provider-specific Medicare data statistics for target areas often associated with Medicare improper payments due to billing, DRG coding, and/or admission necessity issues. Target areas are determined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). PEPPER facilitates the prioritization of areas on which a hospital or facility may want to focus auditing and monitoring efforts. Hospitals and facilities are encouraged to conduct regular audits to ensure that medical necessity for admission and treatment is documented and that bills submitted for Medicare services are correct.

There is at least one new target area for hospices as well as some deletions and revisions. The Alliance is reviewing the details and will provide a detailed summary soon. 

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Katie Wehri
Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Quality & Compliance
National Alliance for Care at Home
Washington DC
+1 (202) 547-7424
kwehri@allianceforcareathome.org
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Hello,

What is the easiest way to know if your requested user type is supposed to an Authorized Official (AO), Access Manager (AM), or Staff End User (SEU)?

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Michele Streeter
HospiceCare in the Berkshires
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