Medicare will stop collecting how many staff members are vaccinated against COVID-19 at the nation's 11 specialty cancer hospitals and at long-term care hospitals, under a rule the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized on July 31.
The removals begin with the fiscal year 2028 program year. Long-term care hospitals lose a second measure at the same time, one that tracked how many of their patients and residents were up to date on COVID vaccination.
The reporting requirements are not disappearing this week. They remain in place through the FY 2027 cycle, which means the data still exists for families making decisions in the near term. What changes is what will be available to compare after that.
Two Programs, Two Removals, One Payment Year
The precision here matters, because the two affected programs cover very different facilities.
The PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Program applies to eleven cancer hospitals that federal law exempts from the standard inpatient payment system. According to the CMS fact sheet, the agency finalized removal of the COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel measure from that program beginning with the FY 2028 program year. CMS is simultaneously adding two measures to the same program, an Advance Care Planning measure and a Malnutrition Care Score measure, with voluntary reporting in FY 2030 and mandatory reporting starting in FY 2031.
The Long-Term Care Hospital Quality Reporting Program covers hospitals that treat patients needing extended acute care, often for weeks. CMS finalized removal of two measures there beginning with the FY 2028 cycle: the same healthcare personnel vaccination measure, and the COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date measure. The rule also revises a data submission deadline.
Both programs carry financial weight. Long-term care hospitals that miss reporting requirements "may be subject to a 2-percentage point (2%) reduction in their Annual Payment Update," the fact sheet states. Measures adopted into that program are publicly reported on Medicare's Care Compare tool.
The full rule is available as Federal Register document 2026-15833. It also sets a 2.3 percent payment update for long-term care hospitals and makes numerous unrelated changes.
Cancer Hospitals and the Patients They Treat
The eleven PPS-exempt cancer hospitals are a small group by count and a significant one by function. They are the specialty centers where patients travel for complex oncology care, often from other states.
Their inpatient populations skew heavily toward people with compromised immune function. Patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy, those undergoing stem cell or bone marrow transplant, and people on sustained immunosuppression frequently mount weaker responses to vaccination themselves, which makes the vaccination status of people around them a practical concern rather than an abstract one.
That is the reason staff vaccination reporting was adopted for these settings in the first place. It should be said clearly that removing a reporting requirement is not the same as changing an infection control practice. Hospitals set their own staff vaccination policies, and those policies are unaffected by whether the number is submitted to Medicare. What changes is public visibility.
Long-Term Care Hospitals Lose Two Measures, Not One
The long-term care hospital picture is different in one respect: patients there lose both the staff-side and the patient-side vaccination figure.
These facilities treat medically complex patients over extended stays, including people weaning from mechanical ventilation, those with serious wounds, and patients recovering from prolonged intensive care. Length of stay is measured in weeks rather than days, and the population is generally older and sicker than in a general acute care hospital.
For a family choosing among long-term care hospitals for a relative leaving the ICU, the patient vaccination measure offered something the staff measure did not: a sense of whether the facility was actively keeping its own long-stay residents current on vaccination. After FY 2028, neither figure will be collected.
Comparison Data Remains Available Through FY 2027
The most useful thing readers can take from this rule is timing.
Because the removals begin with the FY 2028 cycle, the measures remain in the programs through FY 2027. Families comparing facilities in the coming months can still find the data on Care Compare at Medicare.gov. Anyone making a placement decision for a relative should look now rather than assume the information will be there indefinitely.
After the data stops flowing, the alternative is to ask directly. Facilities can be asked what share of clinical staff is vaccinated, what their current respiratory illness precautions are, and whether they offer vaccination to long-stay patients. Those questions are reasonable to put to an admissions coordinator, and the answers are more current than any federal dataset, which typically lags by months in any case.
CMS has not published a replacement measure for either program, and no post-removal data exists to indicate whether reporting removal changes facility behavior. That question cannot be answered yet in either direction.
Next Steps in the Rule
The FY 2027 rule takes effect at the start of the federal fiscal year. The measure removals apply beginning with the FY 2028 program years for the respective programs.
CMS also summarized public comment on a future measure concept for advance care planning in the long-term care hospital program, which suggests that program's measure set will continue to shift. Whether the agency proposes anything to replace the vaccination measures will not be known until next spring's proposed rule at the earliest.
MedicalDaily previously reported on the parallel removal of the same two measures from the nursing home quality program, finalized two days before this rule. Taken together, the two rules move the same reporting requirement out of nursing homes, cancer hospitals and long-term care hospitals on the same FY 2028 timeline.
The confirmed fact is that three measures across two programs are being removed starting with FY 2028. The people most affected are families comparing facilities for an immunocompromised or medically complex relative. The most reasonable action is to check Care Compare while the data remains and to ask facilities directly afterward. The central uncertainty is whether the removals change practice at all, which no available data can yet answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which measures are being removed?
The COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Healthcare Personnel measure from the PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospital Quality Reporting Program, and both that measure and the COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date measure from the Long-Term Care Hospital Quality Reporting Program.
When does this take effect?
Beginning with the FY 2028 program year for each program. The measures remain in place through the FY 2027 cycle.
Which facilities are affected?
Eleven specialty cancer hospitals that are statutorily exempt from the inpatient payment system, and long-term care hospitals nationwide.
Does this change vaccination policies at these facilities?
No. The rule changes what facilities report to Medicare. Individual facility policies on staff vaccination and infection control are set by the facilities themselves.
Can I still look up the data?
Yes, for now. The measures remain in the programs through FY 2027 and are publicly reported on Care Compare at Medicare.gov.
What should I ask a facility directly?
What share of clinical staff is vaccinated, what current respiratory illness precautions are in place, and whether the facility offers vaccination to long-stay patients.
Is CMS replacing these measures?
No replacement has been announced. CMS is adding advance care planning and malnutrition measures to the cancer hospital program on a separate timeline, and summarized comment on a future advance care planning concept for long-term care hospitals.
