Guide
How to read hospice ratings
Some certified hospices have quality measures and family-survey results in the CMS files. We show those figures as they were published, with the source and the date range. We do not invent a Texas score, blend measures into a rank, or write reviews.
The CMS hospice files used on this site were released August 26, 2026. Official consumer pages live on Medicare Care Compare. Link out to that site when you want the government’s own display.
Two different kinds of numbers
Quality of patient care measures come mainly from clinical records and Medicare claims. They include how often certain steps were documented (for example, a pain screening) and claims-based indicators such as visits in the last days of life. CMS also publishes a composite process measure and a Hospice Care Index overall score (typically 0 to 10). Those composites are CMS’s, not ours. We show them with that attribution.
CAHPS Hospice Survey results come from family caregivers after a death. CMS publishes “top box,” middle, and bottom percentages for several experiences — communication, timely help, respect, emotional and spiritual support, help with pain and symptoms, a 9-or-10 overall rating, and willingness to recommend — and, for some hospices, a family caregiver survey star rating. Many Texas hospices do not have a star rating in this release because CMS judged there were too few cases to report one (footnote 15 in the file).
How to sit with a number
A percentage is not a promise about the next patient. A high process measure means a step was often documented in the period CMS measured; it does not describe kindness, or how a particular nurse will be on a Tuesday night. A missing figure is not a hidden failing. It often means the sample was too small, or the measure did not apply, as the footnote in the file will say. We print footnote codes as published. Some codes in the general CMS footnote list were written for hospitals; if a hospice-specific meaning is unclear, we say so rather than guess.
Where we have them, we also show Texas and national averages from the same CMS files, clearly labeled as CMS averages, so a single number has a little context. Averages are not grades we assigned.
What ratings cannot do
They cannot replace a conversation with the agency, a visit, or a talk with a clinician who knows the person. Licensed-only hospices — those without a Medicare number on the Texas roster — will not have these CMS figures here. They are still licensed agencies, and they still appear in this directory. Sort the directory by name, city, or license status only. There is no “best hospice” sort.
To look someone up, search the directory or browse by county.