Vice President J.D. Vance is expanding the administration’s efforts to combat fraud after being appointed by Donald Trump to lead a new anti-fraud task force. The initiative includes the use of an artificial intelligence platform designed to identify and address potential fraud more quickly, Fox News first reported.
The task force is working with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, led by Mehmet Oz. Last month, CMS identified and suspended 70 hospice and home health providers in the Los Angeles area after they were flagged as high-risk for potential fraud. According to officials, funding for those providers was paused within one week of being identified.
“As the task force to root out waste, fraud, and abuse ramps up its work, we expect [the number of potentially fraudulent hospice and home health providers] to grow exponentially,” one source told the outlet.
Vance and Oz announced in February that $259.5 million in Medicaid funding would be withheld from Minnesota amid concerns over fraud.
The move came as scrutiny intensified around the state, shortly before Gov. Tim Walz—the former running mate of Kamala Harris—said he would not seek a third term.
Officials say the task force’s work extends beyond Minnesota. During the rollout of the initiative, President Donald Trump indicated that Democratic-led states could face increased focus as part of the broader anti-fraud effort. “It seems that it’s usually in blue states,” the president said. “If it’s in a red state, we’re going there too, but it seems that it’s heavily, heavily Democrat.”
Vance’s task force plans to apply a model similar to the one used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to identify fraud in Minnesota, centered on an internal artificial intelligence system that flags suspicious claims for review or blocks those deemed likely fraudulent.
Prior to these changes, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and CMS typically relied on manual processes to investigate and remove organizations suspected of fraud. Officials say the newer system allows agencies to detect and respond to potential fraud more quickly and efficiently, Fox reported.
The task force is currently hiring CMS technologists to deploy the AI system nationwide. “Vice President Vance looks forward to carrying out the President’s War on Fraud,” a Vance spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
“The American people deserve better than being ripped off by people who hate this country, and the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud will ensure that essential taxpayer-funded services are used to support the hard-working Americans who rely on them, instead of being used by fraudsters and criminals,” the spokesperson added.
Authorities in Minnesota launched a separate investigation in 2022, during the administration of Joe Biden, into the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which prosecutors later identified as a central player in what became one of the largest pandemic-related fraud schemes in the country.
Federal investigators ultimately uncovered approximately $250 million in fraudulent claims tied to the operation, with dozens of individuals charged and more cases brought over time. Prosecutors have indicated the broader scope of fraud connected to related programs could be significantly larger.
During an event in Rocky Mount, N.C., earlier this month, Vance said the administration has identified at least $19 billion in suspected fraud as part of ongoing investigations in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. He also suggested that other states, including California, could face similar scrutiny as the effort expands.
“We know there’s a lot of fraud in California, and we’re trying to get to the bottom of exactly what it looks like and what we’ve done in the Trump administration,” Vance said in response to a question by Fox News. “And the president has really empowered us to do this, is to take the first national look at the way the American people have been defrauded over many, many years,” Vance added.