Vance's Panel Halts Enrollments in Medicare, California Funding

New home health and hospice agencies will have to wait if they want to bill Medicare, Reuters reports. The Trump administration has imposed a nationwide, at least six-month halt on new Medicare enrollments for home health care and hospice providers, citing persistent fraud concerns. The freeze applies only to newcomers seeking to join the program, not to agencies already approved for Medicare reimbursement, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Wednesday. The action is being taken by the anti-fraud task force led by Vice President JD Vance, who announced other steps Wednesday that include deferring $1.3 billion in Medicaid reimbursements to California, per the AP.

CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz framed the six-month halt as an effort to protect patients and public funds, saying it is about "restoring integrity and safeguarding taxpayer dollars." The stated intention is to give CMS time to reassess spending in these sectors and tighten rules, per Reuters. Federal officials have long warned that some operators bill Medicare for services that are unnecessary or never provided, a pattern flagged repeatedly by the watchdog group Senior Medicare Patrol. CMS has previously used more targeted freezes in high-risk areas, including a 2013 enrollment pause in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Industry groups have been split on how to respond. The National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation backed a temporary pause in hospice enrollments, while the National Alliance for Care at Home warned that broad restrictions could discourage referrals and limit access to care. Oz called the California deferral the largest ever and said it was justified, saying the administration had identified questionable expenditures and anomalies, such as a higher rate of growth in the state's home care program compared with other states. He did not provide concrete examples of documented fraud. Gov. Gavin Newsom's office disputed Oz's claims, saying the program grew because the state is keeping more people out of costlier nursing homes. "We hate fraud," the office wrote on X. "But that's NOT what this is."