Dr. Oz Initiates Comprehensive 50-State Audit on Medicaid Program Oversight

NEW YORK – In a significant move to intensify the fight against health care fraud, the Trump administration has mandated all 50 states to outline their strategies for revalidating certain Medicaid providers. This directive, announced by Dr. Mehmet Oz on Tuesday, marks a shift from the previous focus on specific states to a nationwide effort.

Speaking at a Politico health care summit, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) emphasized the urgency of this initiative. States are expected to present their plans within 30 days, underscoring a federal push to ensure they actively address fraud within their Medicaid programs. “We want to see a clear commitment to tackling this issue,” Oz stated. “Failure to do so might compel us to intensify our audit processes across various states,” he warned, without providing further specifics.

This announcement comes as part of a broader federal campaign to curb waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid systems. So far, the approach has predominantly targeted Democratic-led states, sometimes leading to missteps in the administration’s accusations.

Notably, earlier this month, it was revealed by The Associated Press that CMS had made a substantial error in the data used to justify a fraud investigation in New York. This miscalculation has cast doubt on the administration’s methodologies and fueled criticism of its approach, which some argue tends to prioritize accusations over confirming facts.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported that CMS made a significant error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe in New York. The acknowledgment deepened doubts in the administration’s methods and raised a common criticism that has been made about the second Trump administration — that it tends to attack first and confirm the facts later.

In addition to New York, CMS has approached at least four other states with investigations into potential health care fraud and halted some $243 million in Medicaid payments to one of them, Minnesota, over fraud concerns. It also is blocking for six months any new Medicare enrollments for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics or certain other supplies around the country to address the potential for fraud. In addition, federal officials made several arrests earlier this month related to alleged hospice fraud schemes in the Los Angeles area.

Last month, Trump signed an executive order to create an anti-fraud task force across federal benefit programs led by Vice President JD Vance. It’s unclear whether Tuesday’s move is part of that effort, though Oz has been working closely with Vance on other investigations related to the task force. Asked for details on the new audit, a spokesperson for CMS said the agency was researching the AP’s inquiry.

Oz justified Tuesday’s move by saying federal health programs in some states have enrolled large numbers of providers who aren’t providing real care to patients, but instead profiting from fraud. He said the requests for states to verify the legitimacy of Medicaid providers will be focused on “high risk areas,” but didn’t explain what those entail.

Asked during the Politico interview whether there was a risk that Trump administration initiatives could eliminate, slow down or harm essential health care programs, Oz said he expects the opposite. He said Medicaid and Medicare are the “crown jewels” of our nation.

“I believe this audit and others like it will save the programs we care most about,” he said.