SACRAMENTO, CA – Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) praised the efforts of Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta to curb hospice fraud, highlighted by the recent announcement that over 280 fraudulent providers have been shut down. This improved enforcement demonstrates the success of recent legislation – including SB 664 (Allen, 2021) and AB 2673 (Irwin, 2022), coauthored by Allen – that provided the framework for this crackdown.

“Protecting patients during the most vulnerable moments of their lives requires strong oversight and decisive action,” said Senator Allen. “The results we are now seeing—from hundreds of license revocations to ongoing investigations—are a direct reflection of the policies we put in place to root out fraud and restore integrity to hospice care.”

SB 664 (2021) established a first-in-the-nation moratorium on new hospice licenses in response to growing concerns about fraud and abuse in the sector. The policy halted unchecked growth and allowed regulators to improve oversight, strengthen enforcement coordination, and prevent further harm to patients and taxpayers.

Building on that, AB 2673 (2022) continued to close loopholes, strengthen program integrity, and adapted our efforts to keep up with the evolving fraud tactics in hospice and related healthcare services.

“These policies allowed us to hit pause on a system that was being exploited and gave us needed tools to stay ahead of the fraud,” added Allen. “This will be an ongoing effort to maintain accountability and ensure only legitimate providers are serving patients. As bad actors become more sophisticated, so must our response to safeguard the dignity and trust of Californians.”

Under Governor Newsom’s leadership and with the framework provided by the Legislature, California has revoked more than 280 hospice licenses, continues to investigate 300 additional providers, and is pursuing criminal accountability for bad actors through a coordinated, multi-agency approach.