Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, speaks at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. in December Oz said Tuesday that the Trump administration will require every state to submit a plan within 30 days to revalidate health care providers who participate in their Medicaid programs. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Tuesday that the Trump administration will require every state to submit a plan within 30 days to revalidate health care providers participating in their Medicaid programs.
The Trump administration has promised to end what it calls rampant fraud in state Medicaid programs. But so far it has focused almost exclusively on Democratic-led states, even though federal grant fraud is no more common in Democratic-led states than in Republican-led states. according to federal information.
Oz said Tuesday that the administration will expand its Medicaid fraud-fighting efforts to all 50 states.
“We’re calling on states to take ownership of this problem … red and blue, everyone,” Oz said during a health summit hosted by Politico. “If it’s not taken seriously, that means to us that we may have to be more aggressive with the audits,” he added.
President Donald Trump announced earlier this month that Vice President JD Vance would lead the administration’s anti-fraud efforts said on Truth Social that Vance would focus on fraud “EVERYWHERE,” but especially in those blue states where CRAPED Democratic politicians, like those in California, Illinois, Minnesota (Somalia beware!), Maine, New York and many others, had a “freedom for all” in the unprecedented theft of taxpayer dollars.”
During the interview with Politico, Oz said his agency has already stopped payments to about 450 hospices and home care centers in Los Angeles. Oz also referred to the decision hold back $259.5 million in federal Medicaid payments to Minnesota, noting that the state will have the opportunity to “go back and prove to us that they actually have the security of some of the bills that they sent us.”
Andy Schneider, a research professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, said he was pleased that Oz “did not use this forum to announce further deferrals against Minnesota or other states.”
“Maybe he’s starting to realize that withholding federal funds from states doesn’t really help curb Medicaid fraud. Time will tell,” Schneider said.
Laith Quasem, a Seattle-based attorney at Chapman Law Group who represents Medicaid and Medicare providers and suppliers in fraud cases, said many of his clients have been affected by the California raids and have either had their payments suspended or been removed from government programs.
“I strongly believe that CMS is really abusing its discretion right now, and they are revoking and suspending, but asking questions later,” Quasem said.
“Some of this may certainly be justified. Under any administration there are always concerns about program integrity,” he said. “But it’s not OK to simply throw vendors out of business during a raid without a credible allegation of fraud.”
“Let’s say you’re a hospice, right? What do you do if you don’t get money? You’re not going to be able to keep the doors open,” he said. “What do you do with your patients?”
Stateline reporter Shalina Chatlani can be reached at shatlani@stateline.org
This story was originally produced by State borderwhich is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network that includes West Virginia Watch, and is a 501c(3) public charity supported by grants and a coalition of donors.
