California hospice fraud crackdown: 21 charged in $267 million Medi-Cal scheme

California’s Department of Justice and state agencies arrested five people as part of Operation Skip Trace in a crackdown on a hospice fraud ring that allegedly billed Medi-Cal for about $267 million while providing no real hospice services; 21 suspects face charges including conspiracy, healthcare fraud, money laundering and identity theft, with investigations ongoing into hundreds of hospices. A related federal case in April charged eight people with more than $50 million in fraud.