Medi-Cal fee-for-service hospices must use the new attestation portal within five days of election
Oct 4, 2026 edition · GC-2026-0032 · Published 2026-10-04 · Version 2 · Effective
The September 1 Medi-Cal notice requires FFS hospice election attestations through the Provider Portal within five calendar days, with signed consent retained in the record.
What happened
DHCS's September 1, 2026 provider notice requires licensed and certified hospice providers to submit a Medi-Cal Hospice Attestation through the Provider Portal after counseling fee-for-service members, obtaining informed consent and securing a signed DHCS 8052 election notice. The portal attestation is the official notice to DHCS and must be submitted within five calendar days of the member electing hospice. This is the fee-for-service workflow described in the dated notice, rather than a new October requirement created by the later portal reminders.
The signed DHCS 8052 is not submitted to DHCS through this process. The hospice must retain it in the member's medical record and make it available on request or for a state or federal audit. The dated article points to a step-by-step portal user guide and hospice support, separating electronic notice from the underlying signed election evidence. The portal submission therefore does not replace counseling, informed consent or record retention. Admission and billing teams need to reconcile elections with submission confirmations and promptly escalate access or timeliness problems.
Scope and timing
- Authority status
- Effective
- Applicability
- Directly applicable
- Audience
- Health systems, Provider networks
- Jurisdiction
- California
- Affected functions
- Clinical Operations, Revenue Cycle, Provider Enrollment, IT, Compliance
- Responsible owner
- Clinical Operations
- Recorded date
- 2026-09-01
- Date type
- effective
Why it matters
Electronic submission and signed consent serve different purposes. Missing one cannot be cured merely by possessing the other, and the five-calendar-day clock requires an assigned owner.
Recommended action
Confirm portal access for each relevant hospice provider record. Reconcile FFS elections since September 1 to timely confirmations, retain signedDHCS 8052 and escalate missed submissions or access problems to DHCS.
Implementation playbook
- Confirm access for each fee-for-service hospice NPI and identify any admissions awaiting attestation. Provider Enrollment · Due 2026-09-08
- Reconcile September elections to portal confirmations, retain informed consent, and escalate missed five-calendar-day submissions to DHCS. Clinical Operations · Due 2026-09-08
- Check submission timeliness and associated claim outcomes during the first month; internal review date is not a DHCS extension. Compliance · Due 2026-09-30
Sources
- Mandatory use of the Medi-Cal hospice attestation portalOfficial · DHCS · 2026-09-01 · Source review 2026-09-06
- Hospice portal transition frequently asked questionsOfficial · DHCS · Source review 2026-09-06
Complete edition and supplemental material
This finding in the complete approved report →Regulatory horizons, CIA trends and implementation trackers remain in the full report.
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