The Hospice CARE Act would strengthen the Medicare hospice benefit through a combination of program integrity provisions and payment reforms... Program Integrity: The bill creates additional safeguards to prevent fraudulent providers from enrolling in Medicare and increases oversight of hospices, especially new hospices.
Increase oversight and program integrity measures to prevent hospice fraud and protect patients and taxpayers from abuse.
Occurrences
CMS is taking decisive action to protect Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayer dollars through implementation of a six-month, nationwide data-driven moratoria on new Medicare enrollment for hospices and home health agencies (HHAs).
During the six-month moratoria, CMS will intensify targeted investigations, deploy advanced data analytics, and accelerate the removal of hospice and HHA providers from the Medicare program that are suspected of committing fraud.
Trump Administration’s anti-fraud enforcement is providing hope to medical providers ... like stopping payments to 450 hospices in L.A. County and cracking down on fraud across the country.
Evidence
GovInfo shows that Rep. Linda T. Sanchez introduced H.R. 7966 on March 17, 2026 and referred it to the Committees on Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce. The bill's purpose is to ensure the integrity of hospice care under Medicare, with program-integrity provisions that include a temporary moratorium on new hospice enrollments, transparency rules for ownership, and increased survey frequency for new hospices.
Sanchez's office said the Hospice CARE Act would 'modernize the Medicare hospice benefit' and 'protect patients and taxpayers from fraud.' The release says the bill adds 'program integrity provisions' and other safeguards to prevent fraudulent providers from enrolling in Medicare and to increase oversight of hospices, especially new hospices.
The Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on April 21, 2026 with witnesses including the President and CEO of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association. The committee repository shows hospice fraud was a featured subject of the hearing.
Ways and Means reported that during the Medicare fraud hearing, a California patient described being unable to receive Medicare benefits because she was fraudulently enrolled in hospice, and the page says hospice fraud in California remained a major focus of the hearing.
Rep. Linda T. Sanchez introduced H.R. 7966 on March 17, 2026 and the bill was referred to the Committees on Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce. The bill text includes program-integrity provisions such as a temporary moratorium on new hospice enrollments, ownership transparency rules, and increased survey frequency for new hospices.
The committee's hearing coverage says Medicare fraud remained under active scrutiny, including a California patient account involving fraudulent hospice enrollment and denial of Medicare benefits. The page indicates hospice fraud was still a live oversight issue after Sanchez introduced her bill.
Assessments
Sánchez materially advanced the promise by introducing H.R. 7966 with explicit hospice program-integrity and anti-fraud provisions, and the issue was actively examined in committee. But the record shows only introduction and hearings, not enactment or implemented oversight reforms, so the promise was not fully delivered.
Sánchez made a concrete same-term legislative effort by introducing H.R. 7966, the Hospice CARE Act, with program-integrity provisions aimed at hospice fraud, including enrollment safeguards, ownership transparency, and increased oversight of new hospices. However, the provided record shows the bill was introduced and referred to committees, while later 2026 hearing evidence indicates hospice fraud remained under congressional scrutiny rather than that the promised oversight reforms had been enacted or implemented. Because the promised outcome was not delivered but there was a serious legislative attempt, this is a failed delivery with effort credit.