Hospice Medicaid rates in New Mexico matter beyond fee-for-service billing, because the published rate is a floor for managed care. New Mexico Medicaid pays $184.60 a day for hospice routine home care on revenue code 651, close to the national median of $186.66, and Turquoise Care plans must pay at least the published rate for hospice. New Mexico's hospice rates are not included in our state rankings, so this page compares them with the national medians instead.
For a New Mexico hospice, that combination is the key fact. In many states plans negotiate hospice rates freely; here, the state's schedule sets the minimum a plan can pay. All four rates took effect 2025-10-01 and are compiled from official state Medicaid publications, each linked to its source document on the New Mexico Medicaid rates hub. The sections below explain each level of care, the labor market behind it, and how to use the rates in budgeting and plan negotiations.
| Level of care | Code | New Mexico rate | National median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Routine home care | 651 | $184.60 a day | $186.66 a day |
| Continuous home care | 652 | $1,573.42 (full day) | $66.11 an hour |
| Inpatient respite | 655 | $536.06 a day | $530.15 a day |
| General inpatient care | 656 | $1,138.89 a day | $1,157.99 a day |
New Mexico's rates are in the middle of the national pack on every level. Two sit just below the median and one just above, with continuous home care published in a different unit. They are neither a reason to expand into the state nor a reason to avoid it; the managed-care rule and local labor costs matter more.
That middle position has its own value. A hospice operating in New Mexico does not depend on an unusually generous rate that could be cut back, nor does it fight a rate far below cost. Its financial results depend mainly on how well it manages visits, staffing and length of stay.
New Mexico bills hospice on three-digit institutional revenue codes, one per level of care. The codes are short forms of the four-digit revenue codes used on hospice claims.
The daily levels
Routine home care (code 651), inpatient respite (code 655) and general inpatient care (code 656) are paid as one rate per day. The daily amount stays the same whether the team makes one visit or several that day.
Continuous home care
Continuous home care (code 652) is listed at $1,573.42 as a full-day amount rather than an hourly rate. That is why it does not appear in our hourly ranking. When comparing New Mexico with an hourly state, compare a full day of care, not an hour.
At $184.60 a day, routine home care pays for most hospice days, whether or not a visit happens on a given day. It sits just under the national median of $186.66.
Because it is a flat daily amount, routine home care rewards careful planning more than volume. The first days after admission and the last days before death are visit-heavy, while a stable patient in the middle of a long stay may need only a few visits a week. A hospice that knows its cost per day at each stage of a stay can see where its margin comes from and where it is lost.
In a large, rural state, travel is part of that cost. Long drives between patients reduce how many visits a nurse or aide can make in a day, which raises the cost of each routine day without changing the rate. Grouping patients by territory and scheduling visits around geography is one of the most direct ways a New Mexico hospice can protect its routine home care margin.
Inpatient respite pays $536.06 a day, slightly above the $530.15 national median. Respite places a patient in an inpatient bed for a short stay so that family caregivers can rest. It is a small share of revenue, but it is often what keeps a family able to continue care at home.
General inpatient care pays $1,138.89 a day, slightly below the $1,157.99 national median. This level covers pain and symptom crises that cannot be managed at home. A hospice without its own unit pays a contracted hospital or nursing facility out of this rate.
For both levels, the published rate sets the ceiling on what a hospice can pay a facility while still covering its own nursing oversight and physician involvement. In parts of New Mexico with few inpatient options, the bargaining position of the facility can matter as much as the rate itself.
New Mexico's risk-based Medicaid managed care program is Turquoise Care, with plans run by BCBSNM, Molina, Presbyterian and UnitedHealthcare. State publications name Molina Healthcare of New Mexico and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of New Mexico among the plans, and we count 5 plans in the state's data.
For the hospice service line, the state's rule is that plans must pay at least the published rate. The same rule applies to nursing facilities. In practice:
- A plan can pay a hospice more than the fee schedule, but not less.
- When the state updates its hospice rates, plan payments should move up with them.
- A hospice negotiating with a Turquoise Care plan starts from the published rate as a minimum, not as an opening offer to be discounted.
That gives New Mexico hospices more predictable revenue than in states where plans negotiate freely. The rules for every service line are on the New Mexico managed care page.
Hospice patients often move between settings, and New Mexico applies different rules to each. Home health is a line where the state sets the rate plans pay. Personal care is a line where plans are expected to pay at least the published rate. Home and community-based services and intellectual and developmental disability services are paid directly by the state, outside managed care.
For a hospice, this matters most at transitions. A patient moving from home health to hospice, or a waiver participant electing hospice, changes payer rules as well as care plans. Mapping which entity pays for each service before the move reduces denied claims and gaps in care. Readers who also bill home health can compare home health Medicaid rates in New Mexico.
Federal occupational wage data for May 2025 shows a mixed picture against the national medians:
- Registered nurse: $45.36 an hour in New Mexico, against $46.90 nationally
- Home health / personal care aide: $13.71, against $17.21
- Healthcare social worker: $31.70, against $32.63
- Chaplain: $30.82, against $29.24
Nurse, aide and social worker wages are all below the national median, and the aide gap is the widest. Chaplains are the exception, earning above the national figure.
For routine home care, that helps. The daily rate of $184.60 covers the whole interdisciplinary team, and aide visits are often the most frequent visits in a hospice plan of care. A New Mexico hospice paying local market wages has more room within a near-median daily rate than a hospice in a high-wage state paid the same amount.
The constraint is recruitment rather than rate. A below-median wage market can make it harder to staff nurses for continuous care shifts, especially in rural areas where a single crisis can tie up a nurse for most of a day.
The highest routine home care rates are in New York ($317.60), Massachusetts ($231.13), Maine ($223.84), Rhode Island ($222.38) and New Jersey ($219.21). The lowest are Missouri ($178.98), South Carolina ($173.92) and Arkansas ($80.36).
On the inpatient side, Oregon leads respite at $629.83 and general inpatient care at $1,354.60, while Arkansas trails at $212.93 and $449.54. New Mexico's $536.06 and $1,138.89 sit close to the middle of those ranges.
For continuous home care, the hourly leaders are Oregon ($80.47), Washington ($77.54) and New Hampshire ($74.56); the lowest are Georgia ($62.08), Kansas ($60.00) and West Virginia ($59.29).
The spread tells a multi-state operator that New Mexico is a median market. It will not carry weaker markets the way the Northeast leaders can, but it does not need subsidy either.
- Budget each level separately. Multiply projected days at each level by the matching rate, and treat continuous home care as a full-day amount.
- Use the floor in plan negotiations. Because Turquoise Care plans must pay at least the published rate, any plan offer below it is out of line with the state's rule.
- Watch the October date. The current rates took effect 2025-10-01; plan for the next schedule around the same point in the year and check that plan payments follow it.
- Cost out travel. In rural territories, measure cost per routine day including drive time, not only visit time.
- Benchmark with care. Compare New Mexico with neighbours using daily amounts and like units, especially for continuous home care.
Rates on this page are compiled from official state Medicaid publications, and each rate links to its source document. The current hospice rates come from New Mexico's Hospice Rates for Providers (NM Hospice Rates FY26 with summary), and all four took effect 2025-10-01.
These hospice rates are part of all 31,727 current New Mexico Medicaid rates across 140 service categories. Compare New Mexico with every other state on the national hospice Medicaid rates by state page, see our methodology for how daily and hourly hospice rates are compared and why some states are not ranked, and see pricing for access to the full dataset and rate history.