Updated on: April 2, 2026 / 8:57 PM EDT / CBS News
The FBI arrested a married couple Thursday accused of fraudulently billing Medicare for $7.45 million while running a hospice that reportedly had a survival rate of more than 97% after five years. Federal officials said those arrests were the first in a series planned that day.
A high survival rate at a hospice is considered a red flag for fraud because most people enter hospice care in the terminal stages of illness. In past cases, operators used false or stolen identities to collect federal reimbursements for palliative care.
The initial targets were Gladwin and Amelou Gill, a doctor and psychologist who co-own 626 Hospice, doing business as St. Francis Palliative Care, the FBI said. FBI SWAT personnel executed the raid in a residential neighborhood of San Dimas, California, announcing an arrest warrant over a loudspeaker. CBS News was at the scene when agents made those early morning arrests. Also present was Dr. Mehmet Oz, the federal official overseeing Medicare.
The Justice Department later announced that eight people, including the Gills, had been arrested and federally charged in connection with a health care and hospice fraud investigation. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, at the scene with Oz, later said officials are announcing 15 defendants, with more than half accused of hospice fraud. Essayli told CBS News some people in prison were working with people on the outside to commit the fraud.
CBS News has been investigating hospice fraud in Los Angeles County for months. The investigation reviewed business and financial records of every hospice operating in the county to identify operators showing warning signs noted in a 2022 state audit. More than 700 of roughly 1,800 hospices in LA County triggered multiple red flags as defined by the state. Those indicators include low patient counts, excessive billing, staff shared across multiple companies, and supposedly terminally ill patients later discharged alive.
Another red flag is multiple hospices registered at the same address; one office plaza was found to have 89 registered hospices, which patient advocate Sheila Clark called “ground zero” for Medicare hospice fraud.
While Medicare fraud has been a major concern in Southern California, federal officials say it is a nationwide problem. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General reported in 2023 that suspected hospice fraud totaled an estimated $198.1 million.
Congressional Republicans have focused on hospice fraud, using it in political attacks on California Democratic leaders. Last month, House Republicans said they were investigating “rampant hospice fraud,” alleging tens of millions in improper payments to Southern California companies and citing the CBS News investigation. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee wrote to Governor Gavin Newsom seeking documents about the state’s oversight and internal controls to detect and prevent fraud in federally funded hospice programs, saying recent reporting revealed agencies overbilling Medicare and enrolling beneficiaries without their knowledge.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office has brought criminal fraud cases against more than 100 defendants in the hospice industry and filed about two dozen civil cases, but acknowledged more work is needed. “We need to be responsive to the red flags and react to them, not just count them,” Bonta said, adding that the state has increased efforts on prevention and accountability.
A moratorium on issuing new hospice licenses in California was recently extended through January 2027 after the state missed its deadline to enact new emergency regulations. Public health officials said the pause allows time to vet applicants and hold hospices accountable. Bonta said multiple agencies are working on a task force to target the problem and pledged continued efforts to root out hospice fraud in the state.