Fraud is pervasive in Medicare and Medicaid, even in a setting as solemn as end-of-life care. A recent CBS News investigation into hospice providers in Los Angeles County found that 93 percent of providers had at least one warning sign for potential fraud, and 73 percent had at least two. By 2021, LA County alone accounted for about 34 percent of all U.S. hospice providers, making it a hotspot for hospice fraud.
CBS News examined business and financial records for roughly 1,800 hospice providers operating in Los Angeles County and identified red flags of potential fraud using criteria from a 2022 California State Auditor’s report. These red flags include excessive billing, multiple hospices in one building, geographic clustering of hospice offices, the sharing of staff across multiple companies, low patient counts, and high rates of terminally ill patients later discharged alive.
The scale of the problem is staggering. LA County experienced a 1,589 percent increase in hospice companies from 2010 to 2021—more than six times the national average for the county’s elderly population. The typical hospice provider in LA County billed Medicare roughly $29,000 per patient, more than double the national average of $13,200. CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz stated there is roughly $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud in LA County.
