(The Center Square) \u2013 A California legislator\u2019s investigation into hospice fraud in the Los Angeles area shows that almost 300 licensed hospice providers are tied to a small number of addresses.<\/p>\n
The probe, which reportedly includes an empty Los Angeles building that supposedly housed hospices, comes as a U.S. House committee investigates hospice fraud in California and is requesting documents from the state.<\/p>\n
Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, recently investigated hospice fraud in Southern California after suspecting that there were multiple examples.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was looking at our budget shortfalls that we have throughout this year, and health care kept popping up as something that was a cause for concern by the state auditor,\u201d Macedo told The Center Square this week. \u201cI started trying to figure out why health care costs were exploding, but we\u2019re not necessarily seeing that jive with the quality of health care and access to health care as a state.\u201d<\/p>\n
A letter Macedo sent to Congressional representatives on March 16<\/a>, the same day President Donald Trump convened a new task force targeting fraud<\/a>, detailed the results of her investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cI want Congress to have their part in the Medicare fraud that\u2019s going on,\u201d Macedo said. \u201cIf this is happening in California, it\u2019s happening in other states. They have the ability to oversee the funding for Medicare, and I\u2019m hoping they also put pressure on the state of California to enact these regulations to make sure there are fraud controls in place.\u201d<\/p>\n In the course of her investigation, as Macedo dug deeper into the state auditor\u2019s reports and databases from agencies like the California Department of Health and Human Services, she found one thing that was a persistent problem \u2013 hospice and Medicare fraud.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found 197 businesses that were registered to the Friar Street address,\u201d Macedo told The Center Square. \u201cWe saw 81 registered at another facility not that far away, and another 19 or 20. It was just unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n After driving out to the addresses where Macedo suspected hospice fraud was taking place, she found facilities and empty lots that were visibly not the sites of real operating health care businesses. She even called the phone numbers associated with those businesses and found that many were disconnected.<\/p>\n