CMS releases FY 2025 SNF PEPPER reports
Oct 11, 2026 edition · GC-2026-0118 · Published 2026-10-11 · Version 3 · Final
CMS makes FY 2025 SNF PEPPER reports available through authorized organization access. The report supports review of billing patterns and stay trends, while staff access requires the organization's approval and the announcement establishes no facility-specific error finding.
What happened
The September 17 newsletter announces the FY 2025 Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report for skilled nursing facilities. CMS describes using PEPPER to identify billing patterns needing review, possible undercoding or overcoding, and trends such as longer stays. Those uses support focused internal review; a comparative pattern is not by itself a fraud finding, repayment decision, or proof that a particular service was medically unnecessary.
Authorized officials, access managers, and approved staff end users can download their organization's report from the PEPPER Portal. Staff users request the PEPPER business function through CMS's Identity and Access system using the described existing credentials, and an authorized official or access manager must approve the request. CMS links training, a user guide, and access assistance. The access workflow is separate from analyzing report results and does not make the public newsletter a new general filing deadline for every SNF.
Scope and timing
- Authority status
- Final
- Applicability
- Operationally relevant
- Audience
- Health systems, Provider networks
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
- Affected functions
- Revenue Cycle, Compliance, Coding, Clinical Operations
- Responsible owner
- Revenue Cycle
Why it matters
SNFs can use the report to identify billing patterns that differ from peers before those patterns become audit or repayment issues.
Recommended action
Download the facility report, route it to compliance and revenue cycle, investigate material outliers, and document any corrective action.
Sources
- MLN Connects Newsletter, September 17, 2026Official · Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services · 2026-09-17 · Source review 2026-10-11
Complete edition and supplemental material
This finding in the complete approved report →Regulatory horizons, CIA trends and implementation trackers remain in the full report.
Read the entire Medicare & Medicaid report →