Provider Preview Reports for the November 2026 Hospice Care Compare refresh are in iQIES now. CMS posted them and then reissued them — a correction of the prior November 2026 previews. The preview window is August 25, 2026 through September 24, 2026 (30 days). After that, the reports stay in iQIES for about 60 days total and then they are gone. This is not the FY2027 Care Compare icon clock. This is the public numbers families will see in November, and the window to catch errors before they publish closes September 24.
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What CMS Posted, and Why the Reissue Matters
On August 25–26, 2026, CMS updated the Hospice Quality Reporting public-reporting page. Two things happened, and they are easy to mash together in a staff meeting:
- Provider Preview Reports for the November 2026 refresh are available in iQIES — and they were reissued. Treat the reissued file as the file. If someone downloaded an earlier November 2026 preview, that copy is stale. Download again.
- The August 2026 quarterly refresh is already live on Care Compare as of August 26, 2026. That is the current public page. It is not the November preview.
The November numbers will publish on the Compare tool and the Provider Data Catalog in the November 2026 refresh. The preview is your only structured look at those numbers before they are public. CMS’s announcement lives on the Hospice Quality Reporting public-reporting page. Use that page, not a forwarded screenshot, when you brief leadership.
The Periods in the November Preview
As CMS stated on August 25, the November 2026 preview uses these reporting periods:
- Assessment / HIS: Q1 2025–Q3 2025
- CAHPS measures: Q1 2024–Q4 2025
- CAHPS Star Ratings: Q4 2023–Q3 2025
- Claims-based measures: Q1 2024–Q4 2025
Those are the numbers that will go public in November. They are not the numbers currently on Care Compare.
The August 2026 refresh already live on Compare uses a different set:
- Assessment: Q4 2024–Q3 2025
- CAHPS: Q4 2023–Q3 2025
- Claims-based: Q1 2023–Q4 2024
If a board packet still quotes the August public page as “what families will see this fall,” it is quoting the wrong refresh. The November preview is the fall public file. Pull it.
Download Both Files. The Preview Is Not One PDF.
Log into iQIES and download both:
- the assessment / claims preview, and
- the CAHPS preview.
Save them locally. CMS is explicit that preview reports remain available for about 60 days total and then they are removed. September 24 is the end of the 30-day preview period — the window to review and raise data issues. The 60-day clock is why you do not leave the only copy sitting in iQIES. A QAPI folder, a named file date, and a second copy off the laptop is the whole control.
Then read them as a data check, not as a press clipping. Look for missing quarters, suppressed cells you did not expect, CAHPS denominators that do not match what you submitted, HIS/HOPE volumes that do not match your acceptance log, and any claims-based result that cannot be explained from your own utilization file. If something is wrong, the time to escalate it is before September 24, not after the November refresh is live.
Do Not Confuse This Window With the FY2028 Compare Icon
The FY2027 final rule finalized a Care Compare icon for hospices that fail to submit any quality data or submit under 90 percent. That icon is effective no earlier than FY2028, based on calendar year 2026 data. We put that on the October 1 operator checklist because the HOPE work you do this fall is the year families will eventually see as a badge.
That is a different clock. This post is not about the icon. This post is about the November 2026 public-reporting refresh and a preview window that closes September 24, 2026. You can do everything right on the FY2028 icon and still publish a bad November page if nobody opened the reissued preview.
HOPE/HQRP is still the operational control underneath both clocks: records accepted on time, CAHPS surveyed, claims that match the care you actually delivered. The October 1 list is the APU and addendum work. This list is the public file for November. Run both.
If you need a second public-facing number for the same leadership meeting, the free SSVI lookup is still the fastest way to pull the oversight score. It is not a substitute for the Care Compare preview. It is a separate CMS product. Mention it, then get back to iQIES.
This Week’s Punch List
September 24 is thirteen days from today. That is enough time to download two reports and walk them with QAPI. It is not enough time if the iQIES login is still in someone’s other inbox.
- QAPI / quality lead — log into iQIES this week. Confirm you are looking at the reissued November 2026 Provider Preview Reports, not an earlier download.
- Download both files. Assessment/claims preview and CAHPS preview. Not one. Both.
- Save them locally. Named files, dated, in a folder that will still be there after iQIES drops the preview (about 60 days total from posting). Do not treat the portal as your archive.
- Check for errors and missing data before September 24. Missing quarters, unexpected suppression, CAHPS counts that do not match submissions, HIS/HOPE volumes that do not match your 30-day acceptance log, claims-based results you cannot explain from your own utilization file.
- Escalate data issues now. The preview window is the window. After September 24 you are arguing with a file that is already on its way to the public page.
- Brief leadership on what the November public numbers will show. Use the preview periods above, not the August live page. One page: the four period rows, the measures that moved, and anything you are escalating. That is the board packet. Not a screenshot of Care Compare from August 26.
HQRP & Public-Reporting Consulting: $300/hour
We can pull the reissued iQIES previews with your quality lead, check the assessment, claims, and CAHPS files against your own logs, and write the one-page leadership brief before the September 24 window closes.
Schedule a ConsultationFurther Reading
- October 1 Is Five Weeks Out: The FY2027 Final-Rule Checklist — HQRP APU, the 90% HOPE clock, and the Care Compare icon that does not start before FY2028
- The FY2027 Election Addendum Is Now Law
- Now Live: A Free Tool to Look Up Your Hospice’s SSVI Score
- CMS Built a New Score That Flags Your Hospice for Oversight: Meet the SSVI
- CMS Just Froze New Hospice Enrollments Nationwide
- CMS — Hospice Quality Reporting: Public Reporting Background and Announcements
The Bottom Line
The November 2026 Care Compare numbers are already sitting in iQIES as reissued Provider Preview Reports. The 30-day window runs August 25 to September 24, 2026. The files linger about 60 days total, then they are gone. Download both the assessment/claims preview and the CAHPS preview, save them, check them, escalate errors, and brief leadership on the November public page — not the August one already live. The FY2028 Compare icon is a different clock. This week’s clock is September 24.