Dr. Oz Cracks Down on Hospice Fraud

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz delivered a blunt warning about Medicare fraud in Los Angeles during a recent Fox News interview: “We believe that at least half of the hospices in the entire area around Los Angeles are fraudulent.”

On May 13, CMS followed with a major enforcement action, suspending payments to roughly 800 hospices that billed federal taxpayers $1.4 billion last year. Those providers will no longer be paid while officials investigate suspected fraud in one of Medicare’s most sensitive areas.

A fraud scheme this large is not a paperwork problem. It is a massive taxpayer rip-off, and it confirms CFE’s warning that federal health programs have been too easy for bad actors to exploit.

CMS Is Moving Against a Huge Fraud Problem

CMS also announced a nationwide crackdown on hospice and home health fraud, including six-month enrollment moratoria for new Medicare hospice and home health providers. The moratoria apply to high-risk provider categories and are designed to stop new bad actors from entering Medicare while investigators review suspicious providers already in the system.

Oz put the issue plainly in the CMS announcement: “We’ve seen systemic and deeply troubling fraud in the hospice and home health space, with bad actors exploiting some of our most vulnerable Medicare patients and stealing money from the American taxpayer.”

CFE Warned About This Problem

CFE recently reported on Dr. Oz’s warnings at a Paragon Health Institute event, where he described hospice fraud, home-based service fraud, phantom Obamacare enrollment, and other billing abuses. The latest CMS action confirms the point: fraud spreads when Washington pays too easily and checks too slowly.

CFE Takeaway

Health care fraud raises costs, drains Medicare, and diverts money away from patients who need care. CMS is right to suspend payments before more taxpayer money leaves the Treasury, block new bad actors from entering the program, and use data-driven enforcement to stop fraud before it spreads.

Honest hospice and home health providers should not be forced to share Medicare with fake operators, shell providers, or billing schemes that treat taxpayers like an open checkbook. Federal health care dollars should support patients, not fraudsters, and the latest CMS action confirms CFE’s warning that Washington should keep going.