The Trump administration is imposing a six-month moratorium on Medicare enrollment for certain suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics and orthotics, or DMEPOS, as part of a broader plan to combat fraud in healthcare.
The administration said Wednesday that the nationwide halt on enrollment would give the government time to consider more actions “to further mitigate longstanding instances of fraud, waste, and abuse perpetrated by certain DMEPOS companies.”
The temporary freeze applies to all applications for initial enrollment and changes in majority ownership for medical supply companies.
Durable medical equipment includes items such as walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen equipment, hospital beds, continuous positive airway pressure machines and blood sugar monitors.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last year stopped more than $1.5 billion in suspected fraudulent billing by medical supply companies, and the moratorium would build on that work, according to the announcement.
“For decades, Medicare fraud has drained billions from American taxpayers — that ends now,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “We are replacing the old ‘pay and chase’ model with a real-time ‘detect and deploy’ strategy, using advanced AI tools to identify fraud instantly and stop improper payments before they go out the door.”
Over the past decade, fraud in the DMEPOS program has been the focus of several reports by the HHS’ Office of Inspector General, which found Medicare overpaid suppliers by $34 million from 2015 to 2017. The 2018 OIG audit found Medicare could have saved more than $223 million since 2008 if the billing system had been designed properly. A follow-up audit said subsequent fixes to the system decreased overpayments, but the agency still overpaid suppliers by $4.5 million from 2020 to 2024.
The Medicare enrollment moratorium was unveiled alongside a plan to withhold more than $259 million in Medicaid funds from Minnesota due to concerns about potentially fraudulent claims to the program. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, called the move by the Trump administration politically motivated.
