CMS is implementing a six-month, nationwide moratorium on  Medicare enrollment for new home health and hospice agencies.
 
The moratoria will allow CMS to temporarily halt the influx of new providers into these high-risk categories — a key source of fraudulent activity, according to a CMS alert announcing the action May 13.
 
“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. “This is about protecting patients, restoring integrity, and safeguarding taxpayer dollars.”
 
During the six-month moratoria, CMS says it will intensify targeted investigations, deploy advanced data analytics and accelerate the removal of hospice and home health providers from the Medicare program that are suspected of committing fraud.
 
The moratoria will apply to all applications for initial Medicare enrollment and certain changes in majority ownership that can be used to obscure control by bad actors.
 
Read the CMS announcement at cms.gov/newsroom.