Policy & oversight
CMS Official Says Medicare Enrollment Freeze Blocked About 300 Potentially Fraudulent Hospice and Home Health Applicants
The agency's deputy administrator and COO called the six-month moratorium a successful approach on October 29, citing payment suspensions tied to providers that billed 1.4 billion dollars to Medicare last year. CMS must decide within weeks whether to extend the freeze beyond its November 13 expiration.
By the Goodsurance editorial teamOctober 29, 2026
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services moved in May 2026 to block new hospice and home health agencies from enrolling in Medicare, citing widespread fraud particularly in California and other high-risk states. On October 29, Kimberly Brandt, the agency's deputy administrator and chief operating officer, said the moratorium has proven to be a successful approach.
Since the freeze took effect on May 13, CMS has denied approximately 50 hospice and 250 home health enrollment applications. The agency has also suspended payments to 899 hospice and home health providers, 812 of them in California. According to CMS, those providers were responsible for roughly 1.4 billion dollars in Medicare spending in the prior year. CMS reported seeing large drops in billing in areas historically associated with provider fraud, including parts of California, Texas, Nevada, Ohio, Georgia, and Arizona.
CMS says its six-month ban on new hospice and home health enrollments blocked about 300 applications and froze payments tied to 1.4 billion dollars in annual Medicare billing.
Brandt acknowledged that some legitimate providers have been caught up in the payment suspensions, describing the situation as a tradeoff between fraud prevention and program access.
The moratorium is set to expire November 13, 2026. Under federal law, CMS may extend such freezes in six-month increments. As of October 29, the agency had not announced whether it would allow the moratorium to lapse or issue an extension. Medicare beneficiaries already receiving care from an existing home health or hospice provider are not affected by the enrollment freeze.
In plain words
Medicare paused new sign-ups for home health and hospice companies starting in May 2026. A top Medicare official said on October 29 that the pause has worked well. Since it started, Medicare has turned away about 300 new company applications. Medicare has also frozen payments to 899 providers, most of them in California. Those providers had billed Medicare about 1.4 billion dollars in a single year. Officials said billing went down sharply in states where fraud is common. The pause is set to end November 13. Medicare has not yet said whether it will extend the pause or let it end. People who already get care from a home health or hospice provider are not affected.
Understand the basics first
Source: Hospice News
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