Hospice Medicaid rates in Maine split sharply by level of care. MaineCare pays $223.84 a day for routine home care on code T2042, 3rd of 21 ranked states and 19.9% above the national median of $186.66. Only New York and Massachusetts pay more for the level that covers most hospice days.
The other three levels tell a different story. Continuous home care, inpatient respite and general inpatient care all sit just below their national medians, ranking in the middle of the field. For a Maine hospice, the premium is almost entirely in routine home care.
| Level of care | Code | MaineCare rate | Rank | Vs national median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Routine home care | T2042 | $223.84 a day | 3rd of 21 | 19.9% above |
| Continuous home care | T2043 | $65.09 an hour | 10th of 16 | 1.5% below |
| Inpatient respite | T2044 | $529.81 a day | 11th of 19 | 0.1% below |
| General inpatient care | T2045 | $1,131.44 a day | 12th of 18 | 2.3% below |
All four rates are effective October 1, 2025 and use the HCPCS T-codes, so the code on a MaineCare claim matches the code used for national comparison.
The contrast is unusual. Most states that rank near the top on routine home care, such as Massachusetts and New Jersey, also rank near the top on the inpatient levels. Maine is a top-three state for home-based daily care and a mid-table state for everything else.
MaineCare pays hospice by the day, not by the visit. Once a member elects hospice, the hospice is paid for each day of care at the level that matches the patient's needs that day, and that payment covers the whole team plus drugs, equipment and supplies related to the terminal illness.
- Routine home care (T2042) is the everyday level at home or in a residential setting.
- Continuous home care (T2043) is paid by the hour during a crisis that calls for mostly nursing care at home.
- Inpatient respite (T2044) pays for a short facility stay to give family caregivers a break.
- General inpatient care (T2045) pays for a facility stay to control symptoms that cannot be managed at home.
Routine home care is the daily rate paid for each day a patient is enrolled and living at home, whether or not a visit occurs that day. MaineCare's $223.84 is behind only New York ($317.60) and Massachusetts ($231.13), and just ahead of Rhode Island ($222.38) and New Jersey ($219.21).
That matters because routine home care drives most hospice revenue. A rate 19.9% above the median gives a Maine hospice meaningfully more per patient-day than a hospice in a median state, and much more than one in Missouri ($178.98), South Carolina ($173.92) or Arkansas ($80.36).
The daily rate covers the interdisciplinary team's visits plus drugs, equipment and supplies related to the terminal illness. For a hospice whose census is mostly home-based, Maine's rate structure is favorable: the premium sits on the days that make up most of the business.
Continuous home care (T2043). $65.09 an hour, 10th of 16 states and 1.5% below the $66.11 median. It pays for blocks of predominantly nursing care at home during a crisis. The national range is narrow, from $59.29 in West Virginia to $80.47 in Oregon.
Inpatient respite (T2044). $529.81 a day, 11th of 19 and 0.1% below the $530.15 median, effectively at the median. It covers short inpatient stays that relieve family caregivers.
General inpatient care (T2045). $1,131.44 a day, 12th of 18 and 2.3% below the $1,157.99 median. It covers short-term inpatient care for symptoms that cannot be managed at home. Oregon leads at $1,354.60; Kansas ($1,057.76), Missouri ($1,048.85) and Arkansas ($449.54) trail.
For a Maine hospice, these three levels pay roughly what a typical state pays. The decision to staff continuous care hours or to operate or contract for inpatient beds rests on the same economics as in a median state, without the premium that routine home care carries.
Federal occupational wage data for May 2025 shows a mixed picture for Maine:
- Registered nurse: $41.82 an hour in Maine, against $46.90 nationally
- Home health / personal care aide: $18.55, against $17.21
- Healthcare social worker: $34.43, against $32.63
- Chaplain: $30.93, against $29.24
Maine pairs a below-median nurse wage with above-median wages for aides, social workers and chaplains.
On continuous home care, the below-median RN wage helps. MaineCare pays $65.09 an hour, slightly below the median, but the median Maine RN earns $41.82 rather than $46.90. That leaves a Maine hospice a little more of each continuous care hour than a hospice paying national-median wages at the median rate.
On routine home care, the higher aide and social worker wages push the other way. Aide visits for personal care and social work visits are a regular part of many hospice plans of care, so those costs are carried inside the daily rate. The 19.9% premium on routine home care is large next to those wage differences, which run to a few dollars an hour.
Maine is large, rural and sparsely populated outside its southern coast. A hospice serving the interior or the far north can spend as much time driving as caring, and winter roads lengthen every route. Routine home care pays the same $223.84 whether the patient lives in Portland or several hours inland.
That is where Maine's premium earns its keep. The extra margin on routine days gives a Maine hospice room to absorb travel that would be hard to fund at a median rate. It does not remove the need to plan:
- Build compact teams. Assign nurses and aides to territories small enough that visits can be grouped.
- Use telephone and video contact for check-ins that do not require a home visit, keeping in-person visits for assessment and hands-on care.
- Plan after-hours coverage geographically, since a single night call to a remote patient can take a nurse out of service for hours.
A hospice that measures cost per day by territory will see where the premium is being spent on distance rather than on care.
Many Maine hospice patients live in residential care facilities or nursing facilities. MaineCare pays those settings under their own sections: Section 97 Appendix C for residential care facilities, which received a fiscal year 2027 rate correction effective 2026-07-01, and Section 67 for nursing facilities, which issued adjustment billing guidance for revised rates in June and a correction in July 2026.
When a resident elects hospice, the facility continues to provide housing and daily care under its own rate, and the hospice adds its interdisciplinary team. The facility's rate shapes how much support staff it can provide alongside the hospice, so changes to Section 97 and Section 67 rates are worth following. Critical access hospitals also received swing bed and nursing facility days-awaiting-placement rate updates effective 2026-07-01, which matters in rural areas where those beds may be the nearest option for an inpatient hospice stay.
Maine Medicaid operates as MaineCare on a fee-for-service basis, with programs including the MaineCare Section 19 waiver for elderly adults and adults with disabilities, also paid fee-for-service. The state lists 7 plans and contractors on record. No hospice-specific managed-care payment rule is listed for Maine, so the published MaineCare rates are the reference point for hospice claims.
For a hospice, fee-for-service billing means one payer, one rate table and one set of claim rules for every MaineCare hospice patient. There is no plan-by-plan contract to negotiate. The Maine managed care page shows how other service lines are handled.
Maine sits with Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Jersey among the top routine home care payers, behind New York's $317.60. On the inpatient levels, Oregon, New York and New Jersey lead, and Maine sits mid-table. At the bottom of every ranked level, Arkansas is far below every other state.
Within New England, New Hampshire pays more for continuous home care, Connecticut pays less for routine home care, and Rhode Island sits just below Maine on the routine day. A hospice serving the Maine and New Hampshire border sees two quite different rate structures for the same patient.
MaineCare has proposed a State Plan Amendment for the MaineCare Accountable Communities Program, published 2026-09-30. Accountable care arrangements can change how providers coordinate and share savings for a population, and a hospice that works closely with primary care practices in an accountable community should follow the proposal. MaineCare has also proposed rule changes to Section 20 allowances for home and community-based services for adults with other related conditions, and the Section 19 waiver for elderly adults and adults with disabilities remains a common path into hospice for older Mainers.
- Budget on the routine day. Most revenue comes from $223.84 a day; build cost per day from local wages and travel.
- Treat intensive levels as median-paid. Continuous care and inpatient stays pay close to what a typical state pays, so price bed contracts accordingly.
- Watch aide and social work wages. Both run above national medians and sit inside the routine rate.
- Update every October. All four rates carry an October 1, 2025 effective date, matching the federal fiscal year.
Every rate here is compiled from official MaineCare publications and links to its source document. Wages are federal occupational medians for May 2025. For a national comparison of every level of care, see hospice Medicaid rates by state. The Maine Medicaid rates hub covers every other MaineCare service line, and our methodology explains how hospice rates are ranked.