A married couple in California have been arrested by federal authorities after being accused of fraudulently billing Medicare for $7.45 million while running a hospice where an unusually high number of patients were reported to survive.
Gladwin Gill, a doctor, and Amelou Gill, a psychologist, who jointly ran 626 Hospice, also known as St. Francis Palliative Care, were arrested after the FBI executed a morning raid.
High survival rates at hospices are often viewed as a warning sign for fraud, since most people enter hospices for care during the final stages of terminal illness. Previous fraud cases have seen operators use false or stolen identities to obtain federal reimbursements for palliative care.
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According to CBS news, the arrests were the first in a series planned by federal officials. FBI SWAT personnel carried out the operation in a residential area of San Dimas, California. Mehmet Oz, the Trump administration-appointed official overseeing the Medicare federal care system was also present.
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.”
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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 reportedly found that more than 700 out of roughly 1,800 hospices in the county triggered multiple warning signs, like low patient counts, excessive billing, shared staff across multiple companies and patients who were discharged alive despite being categorized as terminally ill.
Another factor seen as an indicator of 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 programs.