42 CFR § 418.25 - Admission to hospice care.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t42/s418.25"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "42 CFR § 418.25 - Admission to hospice care."
title_number: 42
title_name: "Public Health"
section_number: "418.25"
section_name: "Admission to hospice care."
chapter_name: "CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "MEDICARE PROGRAM"
part_number: "418"
part_name: "HOSPICE CARE"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "42 U.S.C. 1302 and 1395hh."
regulatory_source: "48 FR 56026, Dec. 16, 1983, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "418"
---


# 418.25 Admission to hospice care.

(a) The hospice admits a patient only on the recommendation of the medical director (or the physician designee, as defined in § 418.3) or the physician member of the hospice interdisciplinary group, in consultation with, or with input from, the patient's attending physician (if any).

(b) In reaching a decision to certify that the patient is terminally ill, the hospice medical director (or the physician designee, as defined in § 418.3) or the physician member of the hospice interdisciplinary group, must consider at least the following information:

(1) Diagnosis of the terminal condition of the patient.

(2) Other health conditions, whether related or unrelated to the terminal condition.

(3) Current clinically relevant information supporting all diagnoses.

[70 FR 70547, Nov. 22, 2005, as amended at 89 FR 64272, Aug. 6, 2024; 90 FR 37431, Aug. 5, 2025]