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The Trump administration is imposing an immediate six-month moratorium on new Medicare enrollments for hospice and home health agencies nationwide, effectively freezing the creation of any new providers as it aggressively targets widespread fraud in the system.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced the move Wednesday alongside Vice President JD Vance, declaring:

“There will be no new hospices or home health care open in this country.”

Existing agencies can continue operating, but no new licenses will be approved until the government can “figure out a better way of working across government” to prevent abuse.

The moratorium includes sharper investigations, advanced data analysis, and faster removal of providers suspected of fraud. In 2023 alone, the HHS Office of the Inspector General estimated suspected hospice fraud totaled nearly $200 million.

Vance also announced the administration is deferring $1.3 billion in reimbursement payments to California’s Medicaid anti-fraud unit, warning all 50 states that failing to aggressively pursue fraud could result in losing federal funding for their own anti-fraud operations.

“States aren’t entitled to taxpayer money for fraudulent Medicaid services,” the White House anti-fraud task force stated. Vance emphasized this is not a red-state or blue-state issue, though he singled out California for not taking fraud seriously enough.

This sweeping action represents a bold and overdue crackdown on one of the most vulnerable areas of American healthcare spending. Hospice and home health care have seen explosive growth in recent years, but with that growth has come mounting evidence of abuse — including providers enrolling patients who don’t qualify, overbilling, and even stealing identities.

The timing is significant. A recent CBS News investigation highlighted serious red flags, particularly in California, where hundreds of hospice agencies triggered multiple fraud indicators. The administration is sending a clear message: taxpayer dollars will no longer flow freely to questionable operators.

While critics may argue the moratorium could limit access to legitimate care, supporters see it as a necessary pause to clean up a system riddled with waste and exploitation. With Medicare and Medicaid facing enormous long-term fiscal pressures, reining in fraud is one of the few areas that can deliver real savings without directly cutting benefits for eligible Americans.

Dr. Oz and Vice President Vance are framing this as part of a larger commitment to accountability. Whether this six-month freeze leads to meaningful, lasting reform — or simply delays new bad actors from entering the system — will be closely watched in the coming months.