March 25, 2026 Washington DC and Sacramento, CA – LeadingAge, the National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance), LeadingAge California, and the California Association for Health Services at Home (CAHSAH) in a March 25, 2026 letter to Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), commend the agency’s actions to protect Medicare beneficiaries, preserve the integrity of the hospice and home health benefits, and root out bad actors who are exploiting the program and harming patients and families. At the same time, the associations emphasize the need for a carefully targeted federal response to protect current and prospective patients, and preserve access to care delivered by trustworthy providers.
“Recent national media coverage and federal enforcement actions have rightly focused attention on a serious fraud crisis in the Medicare hospice and home health programs, concentrated overwhelmingly in Los Angeles County and the surrounding Southern California region,” the organizations write. “It is critical to underscore, however, that this crisis is the result of a subset of bad actors exploiting regulatory gaps, and not a failure of the hospice or home health models of care. The overwhelming majority of providers serve their communities with integrity.”
The Alliance, LeadingAge, LeadingAge California, and CAHSAH stand united in their ongoing commitment to furthering program integrity. Together, these organizations represent over 1,500 hospice and home health providers with over 10,000 locations serving millions of Medicare beneficiaries across the country, including tens of thousands of patients and families in California. Our members have built their reputations and their organizations on a commitment to compassionate, high-quality care.
“Home health and hospice services are relied on by millions of older adults and families annually. Ensuring program integrity is critical–and without question that requires uncovering, addressing and stopping fraudulent actions. At the same time, acknowledgement of and support for compliant providers is also needed,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit and mission-driven providers of aging services. “Gross overgeneralizations about the home health and hospice sectors unnecessarily undermine trust and do a disservice to the vast majority of providers who deliver compassionate, compliant care each day. We urge CMS to take a strong and balanced approach to enforcement.”
“We commend CMS for its continued focus on rooting out fraud and preserving the integrity of the home health and hospice benefits,” said Jennifer Sheets, CEO of the Alliance. “As these critical efforts continue, we must consider the downstream effects on reputable providers and the people they care for. Heightened oversight and added administrative complexity may cause physicians and practitioners to think twice about making referrals, and families, already navigating difficult decisions, could feel increased hesitation if messaging around bad actors overshadows the broader reality of high-quality care.”
The associations look forward to continued dialogue and collaboration as CMS develops and implements the additional program integrity measures to root out, address and put an end to fraud.
