The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor, State of California
1021 O Street, Suite 9000
Sacramento, CA 95814
SUBJECT: Emergency Regulations for Hospice Facilities to Protect Patients and their Families
Dear Governor Newsom:
Your Administration has failed to produce the emergency regulations for hospices that were due January 1, 2026 – to protect patients – after years of extensions. Patients on hospice are terminal and deserving of comfort, dignity and pain relief in qualified facilities with licensed healthcare professionals who are subject to rigorous state oversight.
In 2020, the Los Angeles Times investigated and found massive fraud, resulting in a state audit. It stated, “the state's weak controls have created the opportunity for large-scale fraud and abuse.”
This audit report also uncovered that your Administration “became aware of possible fraud during the licensing process and instead of denying the license, it granted licenses.” The report further stated that your Administration “[did] not always adequately investigate complaints.” There were “roughly 2,100 complaints from January 2015 to August 2021, of which nearly 350 included allegations of fraud and abuse,” and that “indicators strongly suggest that a network or networks of individual perpetrators in Los Angeles County are engaging in a large and organized effort to defraud the Medicare and Medi-Cal hospice programs.”
But in your January press release, you touted a revocation of “more than 280 licenses.”
With this level of abuse, we urge you to explain to taxpayers why your Administration continues to delay adopting regulations that would have established “the process for verifying the identity and qualifications of hospice agency management personnel.”
Delays only hurt vulnerable patients and their families, foster fraud and cause problems for legitimate operators that provide essential services, especially in rural and disadvantaged communities.
It has been four years since the audit report; your Administration has failed to protect families in the most difficult moment of their lives. Most people have never had to choose hospice before; they do not know what questions to ask, what warning signs to look for, or who to trust. That is why state oversight matters, and right now the system is broken.
It is imperative that you be transparent with the public in how you intend to address the rampant fraud, abuse and state regulation that allows bad actors to take advantage of both taxpayers and our most vulnerable Californians.
Sincerely,
ALEXANDRA M. MACEDO HEATH FLORA
Assemblywoman, 33rd District Assembly Republican Leader
JAMES GALLAGHER SUZETTE VALLADARES
Assemblymember, 3rd District Senator, 23rd District
JOSH HOOVER STEVEN CHOI
Assemblymember, 7th District Senator, 37th District
DAVID TANGIPA STAN ELLIS
Assemblymember, 8th District Assemblymember, 32nd District
TOM LACKEY JEFF GONZALEZ
Assemblymember, 34th District Assemblymember, 36th District
LETICIA CASTILLO NATASHA JOHNSON
Assemblymember, 58th District Assemblymember, 63rd District
TRI TA KATE SANCHEZ
Assemblymember, 70th District Assemblymember, 71st District
DIANE DIXON LAURIE DAVIES
Assemblymember, 72nd District Assemblymember, 74th District
