If you’ve been paying attention to healthcare news, you might’ve heard about the hospice industry’s fraud problem. Well, California is actually doing something about it, and the numbers are pretty wild.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration has been cracking down hard on hospice fraud for years now, and the results speak for themselves. Over the past two years alone, the state has revoked more than 280 hospice licenses. That’s not all, about 300 more providers are currently under investigation, and 284 criminals have been arrested. All of this while the state maintains a moratorium on issuing new hospice licenses, which has been in place since 2022.

Here’s the deal: hospice care is incredibly sensitive. It’s end-of-life care, and people are vulnerable during these moments. When fraudsters target this system, they’re not just stealing from the government, they’re potentially compromising the quality of care for people in their final days. That’s why California established a multi-agency Hospice Fraud Task Force that brings together the California Department of Public Health, the Department of Health Care Services, the Department of Social Services, and the California Department of Justice.

The task force has been working together to share information, coordinate enforcement, and actually prosecute people committing fraud. Since 2021, the California Department of Justice has investigated 101 criminal enterprises and 284 criminal defendants, with 109 individuals charged with hospice-related offenses so far.

But here’s where things get frustrating: while California has been building one of the strongest fraud-prevention systems in the country, the Trump administration has actually been gutting federal oversight. Multiple reports show that federal efforts to crack down on hospice fraud have been put on hold, even though Medicare alone funnels more than $25 billion annually into hospice care. That’s a lot of money at risk.

California’s approach has been multi-layered. The state updated its hospice claims systems to require valid provider authorization forms before any payments go out, preventing unauthorized billing. It’s also strengthening utilization management with new prior authorization requirements. When fraud is suspected, the state doesn’t mess around, it immediately stops payments, works with law enforcement for potential prosecution, and revokes licenses.

The bottom line is that Newsom’s administration is actually holding fraudsters accountable while strengthening the system to prevent abuse in the first place. It’s refreshing to see a state government taking action on something this serious, especially when federal oversight seems to be going in the opposite direction. For Californians who care about protecting vulnerable populations and ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly, this crackdown matters.