Stolen IDs Fuel $600M Hospice Scam!

Medicare card glasses pen money on wooden table

The Trump administration’s anti-fraud task force has suspended 447 hospices across Los Angeles over an estimated $600 million in suspected fraud, marking an unprecedented crackdown on what federal investigators call a “kingdom of fraud” preying on America’s most vulnerable patients and draining Medicare at taxpayer expense.

Quick Take

Vice President JD Vance’s task force suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies in Los Angeles County, a 539% increase from initial April suspensions, amid an estimated $600 million in fraudulent activity [1]
Federal prosecutors charged 15 individuals in “Operation Never Say Die” for a $60 million Medicare fraud scheme involving sham hospices, with one facility alone submitting $5.2 million in fraudulent claims that Medicare paid out over $4 million [5]
Criminals have stolen patient identities from outside California, enrolled them in Medi-Cal, and billed for end-of-life care never provided, devastating legitimate patients seeking genuine hospice services [2]
Dr. Mehmet Oz pledged aggressive decertification of fraudulent providers and announced new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) AI-driven red flag systems triggering on-site federal investigations [4]

A Decade of Explosive Growth Fueling Fraud

Los Angeles has become the epicenter of hospice fraud in America. Between 2010 and 2021, the number of hospice agencies in Los Angeles County exploded by 1,589 percent, far outpacing legitimate demand tied to local death rates [2]. This explosive proliferation created ideal conditions for criminals to hide fraudulent operations among thousands of legitimate providers. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) now estimates that roughly half of all hospices operating in the Los Angeles area may be engaged in fraud, representing an unthinkable betrayal of elderly Americans in their final days [4].

Criminals Stealing Identities and Billing for Care Never Given

The fraud schemes uncovered reveal calculated exploitation of vulnerable seniors. Criminals purchased stolen personal information from the dark web, then enrolled non-California residents into Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. They then purchased 14 hospice companies and billed approximately $267 million for end-of-life services provided to people who never knew they were enrolled [2]. In one case, an 89-year-old California woman discovered her Medicare number had been stolen and used to place her into hospice care without her knowledge, even though she was not terminally ill [1]. Other schemes involved falsified physician certifications, forged patient consent forms, and illegal kickbacks paid to doctors for patient referrals—practices that directly violate federal law and patient trust.

Federal Task Force Moves Aggressively on Massive Fraud Network

The Trump administration’s response has been swift and decisive. Federal prosecutors charged 15 individuals linked to the $60 million “Operation Never Say Die” scheme, with one hospice operator submitting more than $5.2 million in fraudulent Medicare claims—of which the government actually paid out over $4 million before detection [5]. Beyond criminal prosecutions, the Vice President’s task force suspended 447 hospices and 23 home health agencies in Los Angeles County, representing a 539 percent increase from initial April enforcement actions [1]. These suspensions halt fraudulent billing immediately, protecting taxpayer dollars and preventing further victimization of elderly Americans seeking legitimate end-of-life care.

New AI Tools and Enforcement Checklist Target Red Flags

Dr. Oz, heading the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Trump administration, announced deployment of artificial intelligence systems designed to identify fraud indicators that human auditors might miss. The CMS created a comprehensive checklist of tactics used in known fraud schemes—including unusually high patient survival rates, repeated physician certifications across multiple facilities, and clustering of providers in single buildings—that now automatically trigger on-site federal investigations [4]. These technological safeguards represent a major upgrade to federal oversight, shifting the burden from reactive prosecution to proactive detection.

#NEW: @VP Vance on rampant hospice fraud in the U.S….

“We see a lot of fraud in the home health care and in the hospice care system. I think Doctor Oz will probably talk a little bit more about that. But again, you have to appreciate that this fraud issue is fundamentally… pic.twitter.com/h1bd7TACZ2

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 13, 2026

California’s Years of Inaction Enabled the Crisis

A 2022 California State Auditor report warned Governor Newsom’s administration of extensive hospice fraud networks engaged in “large and organized effort to defraud the Medicaid and Medicare hospice programs,” yet state action remained limited until federal intervention accelerated enforcement [2]. While California officials later claimed they had revoked approximately 280 hospice licenses, the scale of the problem—with 447 providers now suspended by the federal task force alone—demonstrates that state oversight proved inadequate to protect vulnerable seniors and federal taxpayers from systematic exploitation.