The chief executive of the nation’s largest hospice company called federal regulators’ decision to freeze Medicare enrollment for new hospice providers nationwide “disappointing,” even as the government cites widespread fraud as justification for the sweeping pause.
Joel Wherley, president and chief executive officer of VITAS Healthcare, described the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ six-month enrollment moratorium as disappointing in remarks reported by Hospice News on June 5, 2026. Wherley indicated the moratorium, while motivated by legitimate fraud concerns, risks undermining access to care for patients who need it — and imposes burdens on providers operating in good faith.
VITAS, a subsidiary of Cincinnati-based Chemed Corporation, is the country’s largest operator of hospice programs, serving patients across 14 states and the District of Columbia.
A Nationwide Freeze
CMS announced the moratorium on May 13, 2026, halting all new Medicare enrollment applications from hospice and home health agencies for an initial six-month period. The freeze can be extended in additional six-month increments and applies to certain majority ownership changes, which federal officials say are frequently used to obscure control by bad actors. Existing enrolled providers — including VITAS — are not directly affected.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz cited fraud on a troubling scale when announcing the action.
“We’ve seen systemic and deeply troubling fraud in the hospice and home health space, with bad actors exploiting some of our most vulnerable Medicare patients and stealing money from the American taxpayer,” Oz said.
The moratorium is part of an anti-fraud initiative tied to Vice President JD Vance’s Anti-Fraud Task Force. CMS said it will use the enrollment pause to intensify targeted investigations and deploy advanced analytics to identify suspicious billing patterns across the sector.
Fraud Scale and Context
Federal enforcement actions in Los Angeles — identified by CMS as a major fraud epicenter — have led to payment suspensions for 773 hospices and 23 home health agencies over approximately $70 million in alleged fraudulent billing.
CMS cited explosive provider growth as a contributing factor in its decision. Nationally, hospice providers grew at a 7.8% annual rate between 2019 and 2023. In California, the number of licensed hospice providers increased 126% during that period; in Nevada, growth reached 151%. CMS separately deferred more than $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California earlier this year over related fraud allegations.
The scale of the hospice sector underscores what is at stake. In 2024, approximately 1.8 million Medicare beneficiaries received hospice services at a total cost of $28.3 billion to the federal program, according to federal data.
Industry at Odds Over Scope
Despite the scale of documented fraud, the moratorium’s nationwide application has drawn criticism from providers and advocacy groups who warn it penalizes legitimate operators.
Jennifer Sheets, chief executive of the National Alliance for Care at Home, said the blanket suspension could reduce competition, increase patient wait times, and limit choices — particularly in rural and underserved communities where provider capacity is already constrained.
The American Hospital Association likewise urged CMS to adopt “a more targeted, data-driven approach to identify problematic providers” rather than applying broad restrictions across an entire sector. AHA Senior Vice President Ashley Thompson said the organization strongly supports Medicare integrity efforts but raised concern that blanket restrictions could harm areas dependent on home health and hospice for patient discharge planning.
Wherley has expressed a similar balance. During Chemed’s first-quarter 2026 earnings call in April, he said VITAS is “very supportive” of efforts to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse, while stressing that enforcement must not limit access for patients who genuinely need care or ensnare providers operating responsibly.
Not all industry voices have opposed the freeze. Tom Koutsoumpas, founder and chief executive of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation, endorsed anti-fraud enforcement, arguing fraudulent actors “undermine public trust” in hospice care and must be removed from the Medicare program.
What Comes Next
CMS has said it will not grant exceptions to the moratorium for individual providers or suppliers. The agency plans to use the pause to remove suspected fraudulent providers from Medicare and accelerate pending investigations.
The hospice moratorium follows a comparable six-month enrollment freeze CMS imposed on durable medical equipment suppliers in February 2026, suggesting broader federal appetite for using enrollment pauses as a recurring anti-fraud mechanism across Medicare-dependent sectors.
Why This Matters for Home Care
Policy shifts in hospice enrollment affect the landscape of professional care options available to families supporting a loved one at home — making it all the more important for families to plan the home environment carefully. For those navigating home care decisions, SonderCare’s adjustable home hospital beds are designed to support comfort, safety, and dignity through every stage of care at home.
