California was warned of shocking hospice fraud. Inaction allowed problems to persist
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Officials have failed to halt pervasive fraud in the hospice industry despite promises of reforms five years ago after learning of widespread corruption that targeted vulnerable patients.California authorities promised to crack down after a Times investigation in late 2020 revealed that a cohort of mostly older Americans was being targeted by unscrupulous providers who would bill Medicare for hospice services and equipment for patients who they said were terminally ill, but who were in fact not dying.The hospice industry, particularly in Los Angeles County, had exploded in size, outpacing public need.One of California’s first moves was to put a moratorium on issuing new hospice licenses to give officials time to strengthen oversight.
State officials and industry representatives crafted emergency regulations that they said would address gaps in hospice licensing requirements to weed out bad actors.But years later, those regulations have still not been enacted.
And problems that have plagued the industry persist despite highly publicized enforcement efforts by the state and federal government, experts say.The Trump administration has seized on California hospice fraud in recent months with a series of new arrests while blaming state officials for dropping the ball.
California rejects the criticism but last week announced a major investigation of providers that officials said bilked taxpayers out of more than $260 million.“This is not a red versus blue issue,” said Sheila Clark, president and chief executive of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Assn.“This is not political.
...We care about the beneficiary and the benefit, full stop.
That is who we are protecting.”Although fraud has been present in the industry for years, the scope of the problem became clear five years ago, with reporting by The Times and a subsequent state audit in response.The audit report, ...