As Congress and some federal agencies, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) intensify their focus on fraudulent activities in home health and hospice sectors, LeadingAge, the National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance), LeadingAge California, and the California Association for Health Services at Home (CAHSAH) on March 25, 2026 sent a joint letter to CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz in support of ensuring program integrity and offering recommendations on enforcement approach.

The letter commends the agency on efforts to fight fraud and advocates for a strong and balanced approach to enforcement.

“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 authors state. “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. Any federal response must be carefully targeted to protect patients and preserve access to high-quality care from providers who have earned the trust of the families they serve.”

In a press statement also issued on March 25, LeadingAge president and CEO Katie Smith Sloan said, “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,” Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, said in a joint statement on the letter. “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.”