California AG Announces Arrests in Hospice Fraud

California prosecutors say they have charged 21 people in a $267 million hospice fraud scheme tied to Southern California, and arrested five after raids at 10 locations on April 8. (oag.ca.gov) Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the case on April 9 with the California Department of Health Care Services, saying investigators seized two handguns and more than $757,000 in cash during what they called Operation Skip Trace. (oag.ca.gov) State officials say the ring used stolen identities to enroll people in Medi-Cal, then billed for hospice care that was never provided. The alleged scheme involved 14 hospice providers and more than $267 million in improper billing. (dhcs.ca.gov) Hospice is end-of-life care for terminally ill patients, not a billing category for healthy people. California says some of the supposed patients lived outside the state and did not know they had been signed up. (oag.ca.gov; courthousenews.com) The case lands in a part of California health care that state officials have been flagging for months. The attorney general’s office says hospice fraud has become “an epidemic” in the greater Los Angeles area, and since Bonta took office it has opened 294 hospice-related investigations, filed 119 criminal cases, and won 51 convictions. (oag.ca.gov) California says it has already suspended all 14 providers from Medi-Cal, revoked their licenses through the Department of Public Health, and disenrolled thousands of accounts linked to stolen identities. The state also says it has recovered more than $70 million so far. (dhcs.ca.gov) Officials say they also changed the payment system after the case surfaced. New automated checks now block any hospice claim unless a valid authorization form is on file and verified. (dhcs.ca.gov) Records cited by Southern California News Group show hospices tied to the case were listed in Van Nuys, Tarzana, Glendale, Torrance and Garden Grove. The attorney general’s release did not name Garden Grove in the announcement. (dailynews.com; oag.ca.gov) The state has been building toward this crackdown since at least August 2025, when Bonta launched a public awareness campaign that warned families about bogus enrollments, missing visits and bills for care never delivered. (oag.ca.gov) The criminal case now moves into court, while California health officials continue trying to claw back money and screen out fake hospice claims before they are paid. (dhcs.ca.gov; oag.ca.gov)