The Maine Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) is aware of concerns raised about fraud, waste, and abuse in home health and hospice care occurring in other states. While any misuse of public funds is unacceptable and should be addressed swiftly, it is critical to distinguish isolated bad actors from the high-quality, compliant providers delivering essential care every day, particularly here in Maine.

Program integrity is a core priority for the Alliance and our member agencies. Maine’s home health and hospice providers are deeply rooted in their communities and are committed to ethical practice, regulatory compliance, and patient-centered care. Our members deliver medically necessary services that allow Maine people - especially older adults and those with complex health needs - to remain safely in their homes while avoiding more costly institutional care.

We fully support the efforts of our national association, the National Alliance for Care at Home, who submitted a letter to Dr. Mehmet Oz opposing payment reductions and highlighting fraudulent providers in California. The Alliance outlined recommendations to strengthen home health and hospice program integrity. In that letter, the National Alliance stated: “The unwarranted cuts are also related to CMS calculations made with datasets that include data from fraudulent providers, especially those that have proliferated in Los Angeles County, California in recent years, and penalizes legitimate providers and beneficiaries for these anomalies.

“We strongly support CMS’s ongoing efforts to strengthen program integrity and believe that fraud, waste, and abuse can be effectively prevented and addressed while reducing burden on legitimate providers furnishing critical services in the home. As CMS continues to refine its oversight strategies, we encourage the agency to adopt measures that are analytically rigorous, operationally feasible, and take a targeted risk-based approach, consistent with CMS’s statutory authorities.”

We believe this balanced approach is essential. Broad, punitive policies driven by issues in other states risk undermining high-performing providers in Maine and could reduce access to care in rural and underserved communities. Strong, targeted oversight - paired with collaboration between regulators and providers - is the most effective way to protect both patients and taxpayer dollars.

The Maine Alliance for Care at Home remains committed to advancing program integrity, supporting quality agencies, and ensuring that Maine people continue to receive safe, ethical, and high-value care in their homes.