Highest-Rated Hospice Providers in Orange County, CA 2026

Which Orange County hospices have the highest quality scores?

Of the 138 Medicare-certified hospices in Orange County, California, 28 scored a perfect 10 out of 10 on the Hospice Care Index, a quality score CMS publishes for hospices. This guide features 22 of them, tied, and 9 of those also have a Medicare family survey star. So there is no single best hospice here, and we don't pretend there is.

That tie is the honest answer. But most "best of" lists skip it and rank anyway. We list the 22 alphabetically, in two groups that sit side by side rather than one above the other.

• Group A: 9 hospices with a perfect 10 and a 3-star family survey rating.
• Group B: 13 hospices with a perfect 10 and no family survey star yet.

Why split them at all? Because a family survey star is a second, independent signal. It comes from at least 75 families who answered Medicare's survey about their loved one's care. Some families will want that extra evidence. Others will care more about a hospice close to home, or a smaller team. Both are fair choices.

One more thing if you searched "hospice Orange County." This guide covers Orange County, California. A different Hospice of Orange County serves Orange County, New York.

How did we score Orange County hospices?

We used two numbers, and both come straight from CMS, the federal agency that runs Medicare. The data is CMS's August 2026 Care Compare release.

The first is the Hospice Care Index. It's a score from 0 to 10, built from ten indicators in Medicare billing claims. A hospice earns one point for each indicator it meets. They cover things like long gaps between nursing visits, visits in the last days of life, nursing time on weekends, and patients discharged alive who then end up in the hospital.

The second is the family survey star. It comes from the CAHPS Hospice Survey, which asks family members to rate the care after a loved one dies. This is the only star rating CMS publishes for hospices.

Here's what we left out. CMS publishes no overall hospice star, so we didn't build one for this guide. We also dropped 6 hospices that scored a perfect 10 but earned only 1 or 2 family survey stars. A top process score next to a weak family rating is a mixed signal. We also removed one hospice that is missing from CMS's current file, and one that CMS lists in Orange County but that sits in Ventura County.

And inside the ties, we don't rank. The details under each hospice are there so you can compare. They aren't there to crown anyone.

Which top-scoring hospices also have a family survey star?

These 9 hospices scored a perfect 10 on the Hospice Care Index and have a 3-star family survey rating, the middle of Medicare's five-star scale. They are listed A to Z. The staff figures come from CMS's provider file, which hospices report themselves.

CareChoices Hospice and Palliative Services (Irvine)

Fifty-nine staff make CareChoices the largest team in this guide, with 13 registered nurses and 27 volunteers. It has held Medicare certification since 2008. Nearly every admission, 98%, covered all the required assessment checks. About 17% of its nursing minutes land on weekends.

Geiss Med Hospice (Santa Ana)

Geiss Med runs a 7-person team from the Hutton Centre in Santa Ana. Medicare certified it in 2020, and the Joint Commission accredits it. In the final three days of life, 98% of its patients had a nurse or social worker visit.

Graceland Hospice Care (Orange)

Graceland lists 14 registered nurses in a staff of about 37, and it has been certified since 2013. Its admission assessment score, about 87%, is second lowest in this group. That measure tracks whether admission covered every required assessment check.

Heartford Hospice (Irvine)

At Heartford, every patient in CMS's measurement window got a visit in the last three days of life. Admission assessments hit 99%. And it does this with 5 staff listed, certified since October 2020.

Hoag Hospice (Newport Beach)

CMS lists Hoag Hospice as a nonprofit, one of two in this guide. Its 34 staff include 14 registered nurses. Hoag scored 98.6% on admission assessments. Medicare certified it in 2012, and ACHC accredits it.

MemorialCare Hospice and Palliative Services (Laguna Hills)

Medicare certified MemorialCare in 1992, earlier than any other hospice in this guide. The nonprofit lists 76 volunteers, more than twice the next highest. Nearly every patient, 99%, had a visit in the final three days. Its Medicare spending per patient, about $11,900, is the lowest here. Lower spending isn't automatically better or worse. It's one more clue about how a hospice works.

Providence at Home with Compassus, Orange County (Anaheim)

About 21 registered nurses, the most in this guide, work alongside roughly 55 staff and 30 volunteers. This Anaheim office has been certified since 1995. It's also the only hospice here that scored 100% on admission assessments. A second Providence at Home with Compassus location, in Mission Viejo, scored 9 out of 10 on the index, so it isn't listed.

Salus Hospice (Irvine)

CMS lists Salus as a hospice run from a home health agency, the only one set up that way in this guide. It has 9 staff and has been certified since 2015. Admission assessments scored 97%. Weekend nursing is modest, about 8% of minutes.

Valley Oaks Hospice (Irvine)

From its office on Michelson Drive, Valley Oaks posted 98.6% on visits near death. The weaker number is its admission assessment score, 77%, the lowest in this group. Weekend nursing sits under 6%. It has been Medicare-certified since 2016 and is CHAP-accredited.

Which perfect-scoring hospices have no family survey star yet?

These 13 hospices also scored a perfect 10. None has a family survey star, which usually comes down to size. Every one lists fewer than 30 staff in CMS's provider file. They are listed A to Z, and they tie with Group A on the index.

Advocare Hospice (Garden Grove)

Joint Commission accredited and certified since November 2018, Advocare lists 9 staff, 3 of them registered nurses. About 90% of its patients had a nurse or social worker visit in their last three days. That's lower than most hospices in this guide.

Care Plus Hospice (Laguna Hills)

Care Plus has held Medicare certification since 2013, longer than most of this group. The for-profit agency lists 8 staff and carries Joint Commission accreditation. Its admission assessments covered every required check for 91% of patients.

Coastal Hospice of SoCal (Garden Grove)

Seventeen percent of Coastal's home-care nursing minutes fall on Saturdays and Sundays. Only Senior Hospice does more weekend nursing among the 22 in this guide. Medicare certified it in July 2022, and CMS lists about 3 full-time staff. At admission, 84% of patients got every required check.

Definitive Hospice Care (Orange)

Definitive earned Medicare certification in January 2022 and CHAP accreditation. CMS's provider file lists under one full-time staff member. That file is self-reported and can lag, so a direct question about team size is reasonable. Admission assessments came in at 95%.

Essence Hospice (Irvine)

About 98% of Essence's patients had a visit near the end of life. Weekend nursing, though, is the lowest in this group at under 5% of minutes. The Irvine agency lists 12 staff, including 4 registered nurses, and has been certified since April 2020.

Hospice of OC (Buena Park)

Nearly 16% of this Buena Park agency's nursing minutes happen on weekends. Its visits near death, about 88%, are the second lowest in this group. It has been certified since October 2021 and is accredited by ACHC.

Integrity Hospice (Buena Park)

Integrity lists 18 staff, the second largest team in Group B. Medicare certified it in 2017, and the Joint Commission accredits it. About 92% of patients had a visit in their last three days.

Lake Forest Hospice (Lake Forest)

Visits near death reached 99% here. Lake Forest Hospice is CHAP-accredited, has been certified since February 2020, and lists about 5 staff.

OC Hospice (Tustin)

With 26 staff and 5 registered nurses, OC Hospice is the largest agency in Group B. Medicare has certified it since 2013. On admission checks it scored 84%, below most of the hospices in this guide.

PEC Hospice (Garden Grove)

PEC is the longest-running hospice in Group B. Medicare certified it in 1993. Every patient in the measurement window got a visit in the last three days of life. Its admission assessment score is 59%, the lowest in this guide, though it rests on a small number of patients. CMS lists no accrediting body for PEC.

Senior Hospice (Lake Forest)

Close to 18% of Senior Hospice's nursing minutes land on weekends, the highest share in this guide. Admission checks came in at 62.5%, again from few patients. Certified in 2016, it lists 9 staff.

Sincere Hospice and Palliative Care (Garden Grove)

Certified in May 2022, Sincere is one of the newest hospices here. CMS did not report an admission assessment score for it. About 94% of its patients had a visit near death. CMS's provider file lists just over one full-time staff member.

West Coast Healthcare (San Juan Capistrano)

West Coast is the southernmost hospice in this guide. Its admission assessment score, 98.5%, ranks near the top of both groups. But its visits near death, 85%, are the lowest here. It has held Medicare certification since 2014 and ACHC accreditation.

Why don't most Orange County hospices have a family survey star?

CMS publishes a family survey star only after a hospice collects at least 75 completed surveys over eight quarters. Below that, CMS says the results aren't reliable enough to compare hospices. Hospices with fewer than 50 eligible patient deaths a year can also ask for a one-year exemption from the survey. Put together, that explains most of the gap. Only 17 of Orange County's 138 hospices have a star.

So a missing star isn't a red flag. It means Medicare doesn't have enough answers yet.

Here's the thing. The index and the survey measure different things. The index measures what a hospice does, drawn from billing claims. Did nurses visit without long gaps? Did someone come in the last days of life? Were patients sent home and then rushed to the hospital? It can't tell you whether the nurse was kind, or whether anyone called back when you left a message. That's the survey's job. And it's why a hospice without one deserves a few extra questions from you.

Which Orange County cities do these hospices serve?

Hospice care happens where the patient lives, so the team comes to you. An office address tells you where a hospice is based, not how far it travels. Here is where the 22 are based.

• North county (Buena Park, Garden Grove, Anaheim): Advocare, Coastal, Hospice of OC, Integrity, PEC, Sincere, and Providence at Home with Compassus.
• Central county (Orange, Santa Ana, Tustin, Irvine, Newport Beach): CareChoices, Definitive, Essence, Geiss Med, Graceland, Heartford, Hoag, OC Hospice, Salus and Valley Oaks.
• South county (Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano): Care Plus, Lake Forest Hospice, MemorialCare, Senior Hospice and West Coast.

None of the 22 has its office in Huntington Beach, Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Westminster, Fountain Valley, Cypress, Yorba Linda, Brea, Laguna Niguel or San Clemente. That's fine. Many hospices serve several cities. But confirm it by phone before you commit, because a hospice's service area is set by the agency, not by the county line.

Browse by city on our Irvine, Anaheim and Santa Ana pages to see every hospice there, including ones that didn't score a perfect 10.

Why are California hospices under extra scrutiny?

California's hospice count grew fast, and regulators took notice. CMS counted 1,130 enrolled hospices in the state in 2019. By 2023 there were 2,559. In Orange County, about half of today's 138 hospices were certified between 2020 and 2023.

That growth came with fraud cases, and three rules followed.

• Since July 2023, CMS has put new California hospices through a period of enhanced oversight, with extra claims review lasting from 30 days to a year.
• California stopped issuing new hospice licenses in January 2022. That pause is scheduled to run until January 1, 2027.
• Since May 13, 2026, a temporary six-month CMS moratorium has blocked new hospices anywhere in the country from enrolling in Medicare. CMS can extend it.

None of this means a newer hospice is a bad one. Several of the youngest agencies in Group B score a perfect 10 on the index. But confirm any hospice's Medicare certification before you sign. Check on Medicare's Care Compare tool or on each hospice's profile here. Our guide on how to spot a trustworthy hospice covers the warning signs.

What does Medicare cover for hospice in Orange County?

The Medicare hospice benefit is a Part A benefit that pays for comfort-focused care when a cure is no longer the goal. It works the same way at every Medicare-certified hospice in this guide.

To qualify, you need Medicare Part A. The hospice doctor, and your own doctor if you have one, must certify a life expectancy of six months or less. You also choose comfort care over treatment to cure the illness, and you sign a statement electing hospice. Care comes in benefit periods. The first two last 90 days each. After that, periods renew every 60 days for as long as you qualify.

Medicare covers the hospice services themselves. You may pay up to $5 per prescription, plus 5% of the Medicare-approved amount for inpatient respite care, which gives family caregivers up to five days of rest. But room and board in a nursing home isn't covered.

Hospice also comes in four levels of care, from routine care at home to general inpatient care when symptoms get hard to control. Our guide to hospice levels of care explains each one. For the full rules, see what Medicare covers for hospice.

How do you choose between hospices with the same score?

Start with the group that fits your family. If you want evidence from other families, begin with Group A. If a small team matters more to you, Group B is full of them. Then narrow by location, using the city list above.

Next, look past the headline score. Worried about weekends? Compare weekend nursing shares, which range from under 5% to nearly 18% in this guide. Worried about the final days? Look at visits near death. Want a thorough start? Check admission assessments.

Then call two or three hospices. Ask the questions in the box above. How they treat you on that first call tells you a lot.

And remember you can change your mind. Medicare lets you switch hospices once in each benefit period without losing coverage. Picking one today doesn't lock you in.