CMS announces moratorium on new Medicare hospice/home health enrollment

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is implementing a six-month, nationwide data-driven moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for hospices and home health agencies.

The moratorium will allow CMS to temporarily halt the influx of new providers into these high-risk categories, which CMS said is a key source of fraudulent activity. Today’s move continues the Trump Administration’s crackdown on fraud, waste, and abuse in the Medicare program by stopping improper billing and preventing bad actors from entering the system.

“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 six-month moratorium, CMS will intensify targeted investigations, deploy advanced data analytics, and accelerate the removal of hospice and HHA providers from the Medicare program that are suspected of committing fraud. This nationwide approach will also eliminate the ability of bad actor operators to evade detection by simply shifting across state lines. In addition, the moratorium will apply to all applications for initial Medicare enrollment and certain changes in majority ownership, which are frequently used to obscure control by bad actors.

The moratorium will not impact current enrollments, and existing providers can continue to deliver services to Medicare beneficiaries.

CMS’ announcement today follows its declaration earlier this year of a similar moratorium to prevent fraudulent Medicare billing by certain durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies companies.