Live Discharges Returning Within 7 Days SSVI Measure

24.3% of scored hospices nationally tripped this measure in FY2025.

What CMS measures

This measure tracks live discharges where the same patient came back onto your census within 7 days. A hospice at or above the 75th percentile nationally gets flagged. CMS reads discharge-readmit cycling as a signal of benefit manipulation — for example, discharging patients around a short hospital stay or to manage cap exposure, then re-admitting them once the issue clears.

The flag threshold

• FY2025: Flagged at or above the 75th percentile: 18.2% or more of live discharges returned to the same hospice within 7 days (≥18.2%).
• FY2024: Flagged at or above the 75th percentile: 15.0% or more (≥15.0%).

Percentile-based thresholds are recalculated by CMS every fiscal year, so the line moves as the industry moves.

Why hospices trip it

• Discharging patients for a hospitalization instead of using GIP or holding them on the hospice census through the stay.
• Cap-driven discharge timing that responds to financial pressure rather than the patient’s condition.
• Sloppy revocation paperwork for what was really a temporary transfer of care setting, not an actual departure from hospice.

How to move it — changes you can start today

1. Stop discharging patients purely for hospitalizations this week — coordinate the stay through a GIP contract, or keep the patient on census while the hospital bills appropriately.
2. Add "what happens if they are back in a week" as an explicit question at IDG for every planned discharge starting now.
3. Audit your last year of 7-day returns this week and identify the operational trigger behind each one.
4. If cap pressure is influencing discharge timing, address your cap strategy directly — that exact pattern is what this measure is built to catch.

Common questions

Does a return to a DIFFERENT hospice count toward this measure?

No — this measure only tracks returns to your own CCN within 7 days.

Is an 8-day return safe?

It avoids this specific flag, but the underlying pattern of discharge-and-return cycling is still visible to CMS in the claims data regardless of which side of the 7-day line it falls on.

Where does your hospice stand?

Look up your score free — the breakdown shows your raw value on this exact measure next to the CMS threshold. Or browse scores by state.

All nine SSVI measures

• Non-hospice spending
• No CHC or GIP days
• Facility-based RHC days
• Last 2 days skilled visits
• Long length of stay
• Live discharge rate
• SN minutes per RHC day
• Weekend skilled visits
• 7-day return rate (this page)