Can I sell my hospice license or an agency with no patients?

What the buyer is actually paying for

A license-only sale is priced as a flat amount, not a multiple of earnings. The buyer is buying a shortcut into the market.

• State license for the provider type
• Medicare certification and an active provider agreement
• Medicaid enrollment, if active
• Accreditation (CHAP, ACHC, or Joint Commission), if the agency has it
• Anything already built: policies, an EMR, a Medical Director, vendor contracts

What makes a license worth more

• Past the 36-month mark: if the agency is still inside its 36-month window, the Medicare provider agreement generally won't transfer, and most of the value goes with it.
• Medicare billing privileges still active: CMS can deactivate a provider that submits no claims for 12 months in a row. An agency that has billed even a few patients is in a better position.
• A clean record: no open overpayments, survey problems, or reviews a buyer would inherit.
• The moratorium: while CMS has paused new hospice and home health enrollments, buying an existing certified agency is the main way in. That has raised demand for these sales.

How these deals are usually structured

Most license-only sales are done as a sale of the company itself (a membership interest or stock sale), so the license and enrollment stay with the entity. Buyers often pay cash, and these deals can close faster than operating agency sales because there is less to review.

The buyer still takes on the company's history, so expect questions about past billing and any claims.

Home care and other non-Medicare agencies

A licensed home care or personal attendant services agency with no clients has no Medicare enrollment to sell. It usually sells for a modest flat price based on how hard the license is to get in that state and whether it has payer contracts in place.

Find out what yours would sell for

Riverbluff checks enrollment age, billing status, and transferability as part of every free, confidential valuation. It does not commit you to selling.