Overview
- In a new video, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz asserted that Los Angeles County is the epicenter of multibillion-dollar hospice and home-care fraud and pledged an aggressive federal response.
- Oz alleged that Russian and Armenian crime groups corrupted doctors, citing a sevenfold jump in hospice enrollment, claims of roughly $3.5 billion in Los Angeles County billings, and at least 100,000 Medicare numbers obtained through “bad doctors.”
- Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected Oz’s framing, pointing to California’s 2021 ban on new hospice licenses to curb abuse and posting that Oz was “cosplay as a fraud fighter.”
- Oz contrasted California with Minnesota and noted he is withholding Medicaid funding there until program integrity is restored, casting California as a larger problem by comparison.
- No new indictments or detailed case disclosures were announced in the latest statements, keeping the dispute focused on public claims, prior state actions, and promised federal enforcement.