Kamal Ghorui
Federal agents have arrested a married couple accused of fraudulently billing Medicare for $7.45 million while running a hospice where an unusually high number of patients were reported to survive in California. The FBI executed an early‑morning raid on the home of doctor Gladwin Gill and psychologist Amelou Gill, who jointly operated 626 Hospice, also known as St. Francis Palliative Care, authorities said.High survival rates at hospices are usually vieawed by investigators as a warning sign of fraud, since most people enter hospice care in the final stages of terminal illness. Previous fraud cases have seen operators use false or stolen identities to obtain federal reimbursements for palliative care.The arrests were the first in a series planned by federal officials, CBS News reported. FBI SWAT personnel carried out the operation in a residential area of San Dimas, California. Also present was doctor Mehmet Oz, the Trump‑appointed official who oversees the federal Medicare system.Bill Essayli, United States Attorney for the Central District of California, told reporters that 15 defendants were being announced in connection with the wider fraud investigation, with more than half accused of hospice fraud. Some of those charged were already in prison and allegedly worked with people outside to commit further fraud.“We are enforcing a zero‑tolerance policy for criminals who defraud American taxpayers,” Essayli said.He added: “The defendants arrested this morning who are charged with stealing millions of dollars of health care benefits got caught and now face years in federal prison.”Investigators in Los Angeles County have been examining hospice and healthcare records for months to identify providers exhibiting red flags for fraud following a 2022 state audit. The review found that more than 700 out of roughly 1,800 hospices in the county triggered multiple warning signs. These included low patient counts, excessive billing, shared staff across multiple companies and patients who were discharged alive despite being categorised as terminally ill.Another indicator of potential fraud was the clustering of multiple hospices at a single address. One office building alone was found to house 89 registered hospice providers, a site that patient advocate Sheila Clark described as “ground zero” for Medicare hospice fraud.The Republican‑led House Oversight Committee recently launched an investigation into “rampant hospice fraud,” asking California governor Gavin Newsom for documents about oversight and internal controls to prevent fraud in federally funded hospice programmes.
