Overview
- CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said states must file plans within 30 days to revalidate Medicaid providers, expanding a fraud crackdown into a nationwide audit.
- Oz announced a probe of Texas hospice care after a state hearing found 1,366 hospice licenses in March 2026, nearly double the total since 2020.
- The Vice President–led task force previously halted payments or operations for nearly 450 hospices and 23 home health agencies in Los Angeles and cited more than $600 million at risk.
- Oz said hospice, home aides, and other in‑home services are hard to audit, and he outlined tighter screening such as verifying IDs and checking for past fraud, which providers say can cut off payments and disrupt patient care.
- Researchers and some advocates caution that the effort has leaned on blue states and may conflate documentation errors with fraud, raising risks for millions who rely on home and community‑based services.