OAN Staff Addie Davis
4:38 PM – Friday, March 13, 2026
Over 700 of the roughly 1,800 hospice agencies in Los Angeles County show multiple state identified indicators of fraud, according to an analysis by CBS News.
A 2022 California state audit highlights a staggering 1,500% surge in hospice agencies since 2010. By 2019, Los Angeles County’s density of hospice centers reached six and a half times the national average relative to its elderly population — a saturation point linked to an estimated $105 million in Medicare overbilling, according to CBS News.
While Medicare is federally funded, hospice licenses are managed at the state level. This regulatory gap has contributed to a national crisis. According to a 2023 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) report, suspected hospice fraud has reached an estimated $198.1 million.
Following the state audit, California revoked 280 hospice licenses in a crackdown. Yet, despite these enforcement efforts, indicators of fraudulent activity have only continued to proliferate, suggesting the problem remains deeply entrenched.
CBS analyzed records for every active hospice agency in L.A. County, cross-referencing them against the state’s official “fraud indicators.” These red flags include suspicious geographic clustering — such as dozens of agencies in a single building — unusually low patient counts, and high rates of terminal patients being discharged alive.
Investigators also flagged shared staffing across multiple companies and patterns of excessive billing. The typical hospice center in the county billed Medicare roughly more than double the national average.
The investigation uncovered a startling reality. 742 agencies, approximately 42%, exhibited multiple red flags for fraud, with another 548 companies showing at least two suspicious indicators. The geographic density was equally alarming, with nearly 500 hospices operating within a mere three-mile radius. The most extreme case centered on Van Nuys Boulevard, where 137 agencies are clustered — 89 of which are registered to a single building.
Of those 89, CBS found that 72 showed multiple signs of fraud.
When the outlet attempted to contact 56 agencies flagged with five or more indicators, they were met with a wall of silence. Most phone lines were disconnected or routed to full automated voicemails. However, a few representatives who did answer categorically denied any wrongdoing.
CBS claimed none of the hospice agencies flagged in its analysis showed up in California’s enforcement database. Since 2022, California’s Department of Public Health has issued enforcement actions against seven hospice facilities across the state.
“Under Governor Newsom’s administration, California has cracked down on hospice fraud, launched partnerships across state agencies, and the California Department of Justice has arrested criminals to hold them accountable,” said a January statement from California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated that while his office has launched criminal fraud cases against over 100 defendants and filed more than 20 civil actions within the hospice industry, he acknowledged that significantly more work is required to dismantle these fraudulent networks.
“We need to be responsive to the red flags and react to them, not just count them,” Bonta added.
California has extended its moratorium on new hospice licenses through January 2027, a move necessitated by the state’s failure to meet a deadline for implementing new emergency oversight regulations. Addressing the ongoing crisis, Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), claimed to Fox News that the administration has been “cracking down” on hospice fraud for several years.
“While MAGA bloggers and idiots like Dr. Oz may have just discovered hospice fraud, California has been cracking down in this space for years. In 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law banning ALL new hospice licenses. That moratorium is still in place, blocking bad actors from entering the system while the state tightens oversight of existing providers,” Gardon said.
Gardon further highlighted a multi-agency task force dedicated to the crisis, claiming that 300 additional providers are currently under investigation for potential license revocation.
This surge in enforcement follows a series of high-profile national scandals that have intensified the conversation around government oversight. Specifically, these include Minnesota’s $250 million “Feeding Our Future” COVID-relief scheme and separate allegations and evidence of widespread fraud within the state’s childcare sector.
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