CMS has imposed a six-month freeze on new Medicare enrollments for hospice and home health agencies to block fraud, tighten oversight, and protect patients and taxpayers.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a nationwide moratorium that pauses initial enrollment and certain ownership-change applications for hospices and home health agencies for six months. The move is aimed at stopping a steady stream of new providers in sectors that regulators have identified as high risk for fraudulent billing and abuse. By cutting off the easy route into Medicare, CMS intends to make it harder for criminal operators to exploit the system.

That action is presented as a continuation of the Trump Administration’s broader crackdown on fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicare, with officials saying the goal is to halt improper billing and push bad actors out of the program. “We’ve seen systemic and deeply troubling fraud in the hospice and home health space, with bad actors exploiting some of our most vulnerable Medicare patients and stealing money from the American taxpayer,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “Today we’re shutting the door on fraud—preventing new bad actors from entering Medicare while we aggressively identify, investigate, and remove those already exploiting them. This is about protecting patients, restoring integrity, and safeguarding taxpayer dollars.”

During the moratorium, CMS will step up targeted investigations and apply advanced data analytics to spot suspicious patterns before payments flow. The pause also covers certain changes in majority ownership that have been used to mask control by fraudulent operators, which should stop criminals from simply rebranding or moving across state lines. Current, legitimately enrolled providers are not affected and can continue serving beneficiaries while oversight tightens.

The policy follows a similar freeze earlier this year targeting certain durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies providers, so there are now multiple moratoria in place across different high-risk categories. Taken together, these moves represent some of the most forceful fraud-prevention steps CMS has undertaken in recent memory, focused on preventing improper payments rather than chasing recoveries after the fact. Officials say data-driven prevention and real-time enforcement are central to the strategy.

CMS’ work has been coordinated with the Vice President JD Vance’s Anti-Fraud Task Force, and enforcement already produced sharp results in Los Angeles, where payments to 773 hospices and 23 home health agencies were suspended amid fraud allegations. Those suspensions represent roughly $70 million held back while investigations proceed, a clear signal that large-scale schemes will be met with swift action. The federal push includes both national measures and state-targeted interventions where abuse has been concentrated.

Beyond suspensions, CMS lists a series of concrete steps to harden the system and reduce opportunities for fraud. Those measures are meant to close loopholes, improve transparency, and increase the upfront screening that catches fraudulent entrants before they bill Medicare. The agency is combining administrative clout with technology and stronger vetting to make sure taxpayer dollars go to legitimate care.

• Revoking or deactivating hundreds of hospices and home health agencies found to be engaged in improper or fraudulent activity, removing bad actors from billing cycles.
• Conducting nationwide hospice site visits to verify operations and identify suspicious patterns that automated reviews might miss.
• Heightening oversight of newly enrolled hospice providers in states with elevated fraud risk, including Arizona, California, Georgia, Ohio, Nevada, and Texas.
• Launching a public hospice scoring system to increase transparency and flag providers with troubling utilization, quality, or compliance signals.
• Implementing enhanced enrollment screening for high-risk home health agencies, such as site verification of reported practice locations and fingerprint-based background checks.
• Expanding a demonstration project for pre- and post-claim review of home health agency claims in Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Ohio, North Carolina, and Texas to stop improper payments before they occur.

The administration frames these steps as protection for patients and taxpayers, not punishment of legitimate providers, and says the moratoriums are temporary tools to stabilize enrollment while audits and investigations proceed. For reputable hospices and home health agencies, the message is straightforward: continue serving beneficiaries, meet compliance standards, and expect closer scrutiny. For anyone hoping to exploit the program, the door is being closed and enforcement will follow.