Key Takeaways:
The FBI arrested 8 of 15 defendants charged in Operation Never Say Die on April 2, targeting sham hospice facilities in Southern California that billed Medicare more than $50 million for non-terminal patients.
Los Angeles County has nearly 1,800 hospices, roughly one-third of all hospices in the United States, with 700 flagging fraud indicators according to state auditors.
CMS has revoked approvals for 220 hospices in California in the last 10 weeks, and HHS Secretary Dr. Oz announced plans to review every hospice in the state by year-end.
The FBI arrested eight people on April 2 as part of Operation Never Say Die, a federal crackdown on hospice and healthcare fraud in Southern California. Fifteen defendants were charged across nine investigations for allegedly siphoning more than $50 million from Medicare by running sham hospice care facilities that enrolled patients who were not terminally ill.
The defendants include three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist. One defendant, a licensed vocational nurse from Anaheim, allegedly submitted more than $9.1 million in fraudulent claims and paid beneficiaries roughly $300 per month to pose as dying patients. Her facility had a non-death discharge rate of approximately 85%, nearly five times the national average. A psychologist and his wife in Covina allegedly used fraudulent hospice billings to cover mortgage payments, car payments, and international travel.
The numbers behind the crackdown explain why the operation exists. Los Angeles County has approximately 1,800 hospices, nearly one-third of all hospices in the country. State auditors flagged that 700 of them raised fraud indicators. The number of hospices in the five-county Greater Los Angeles area spiked from 722 in 2018 to 1,799 in 2024. One Van Nuys address had 197 hospices registered to it.
HHS Secretary Dr. Mehmet Oz announced that CMS has revoked approvals for 220 hospices in the last 10 weeks and plans to review every hospice in California by year-end. Vice President JD Vance, who leads the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, posted on X: "Our task force isn't wasting any time cracking down on fraud."
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli called Southern California a "kingdom of fraud" and blamed California for refusing to enact hospice regulations despite state auditor warnings dating back four years. California has revoked more than 280 licenses and charged 109 individuals, but another 300 providers remain under investigation.
The fraud pattern is structural: a system that relies on trust-based licensing created an opening for organized networks to bill for services never delivered. Authorities say they expect similar clusters of arrests every few months through 2026.
People Also Ask
Q: What is Operation Never Say Die? A: Operation Never Say Die is a federal crackdown led by the FBI, DOJ, and HHS targeting hospice and healthcare fraud in Southern California. The April 2 operation charged 15 defendants for allegedly defrauding Medicare of more than $50 million.
Q: How much hospice fraud is there in California? A: Los Angeles County has nearly 1,800 hospices, about one-third of all U.S. hospices. State auditors flagged 700 for fraud indicators. HHS estimates billions in annual Medicare fraud nationwide, with Southern California as a high-risk region.
Q: How do hospice fraud schemes work? A: Operators recruit people who are not terminally ill, pay them to enroll as patients, and bill Medicare for hospice services that are unnecessary or never provided. Some pay beneficiaries $300-$600 per month in cash.
Q: Who is leading the federal anti-fraud task force? A: Vice President JD Vance leads the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which coordinates with the FBI, DOJ, HHS, and CMS on healthcare and government benefits fraud investigations.
Sources: