CMS Moratorium Could Spur Hospice, Home Health M&A
Healthcare Transactions attorney Michelle Huntsman was interviewed for a Hospice News article exploring how the home health and hospice care Medicare enrollment moratorium will affect mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the sector. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the six-month pause in May 2026, citing concerns about an influx of new enrollments and increased fraud throughout federal healthcare programs. Ms. Huntsman agreed with practitioners who predicted a slight uptick in M&A deals and hospital valuations during the moratorium but cautioned the measure also means more complex due diligence to avoid acquiring compliance issues along with new assets.
"There are going to be some potential implications for heightened due diligence scrutiny and how transactions are structured. There is going to be more flow of acquisition dollars in M&A activity," she said. "We're going to see what's called a flow of de novo development dollars. But providers who undergo changes of ownership or rapid growth also tend to get on CMS' radar."