Introduction

On April 30, 2026, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the creation of the West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force, a multi‑district initiative targeting health care fraud schemes across Arizona, Nevada, and the Northern District of California.¹ The initiative reflects two related enforcement priorities: expanding federal health care fraud resources in the western region and advancing a broader, data‑driven approach to fraud involving taxpayer‑funded programs.

Since early 2025, DOJ has repeatedly identified health care fraud as a core enforcement focus, highlighted by a major national takedown, a growing emphasis on analytics, increased interagency coordination, and centralized fraud oversight. For health care companies, providers, investors, and technology companies operating in California, Arizona, Nevada, or elsewhere in the West, the message is clear: health care fraud enforcement is becoming more coordinated, further resourced, and increasingly driven by data analytics.

Overview of DOJ’s West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force

The West Coast Strike Force pairs the recently formed National Fraud Enforcement Division’s Health Care Fraud Section with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Northern California, Arizona, and Nevada, along with law enforcement partners including HHS‑OIG, the FBI, DEA, and other federal agencies. The West Coast Strike Force is structured to combine centralized prosecutorial resources, regional coordination, and data analytics to investigate and prosecute health care fraud that spans multiple districts.

In announcing the initiative, Colin McDonald, Assistant Attorney General for the Fraud Division, described the need for this new regional strike force as “urgent and undeniable,” emphasizing the Fraud Division’s intent to bring a “relentless, data‑driven prosecutorial force” to the West.² DOJ highlighted Northern California’s role as a major health care technology hub and pointed to data showing an accelerating increase in fraud schemes moving into Arizona and Nevada as well. The announcement referenced recent prosecutions involving digital health technology, wound graft products, sober homes, and Medicaid billing as recent examples of successful health care enforcement in these federal districts.³

Although the strike force model is not new, its broader western focus is. DOJ has long relied on health care fraud strike forces to combine Main Justice expertise, local U.S. Attorney’s Office knowledge, investigative resources, and claims data analysis.⁴ Since 2007, DOJ reports that the Health Care Fraud Strike Force program has prosecuted more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed more than $45 billion to federal health care programs and private insurers.⁵ What distinguishes the new initiative is the sustained emphasis on the western region, which includes major health care systems, life sciences companies, digital health and telehealth platforms, substance abuse treatment providers, DME suppliers, medical technology companies, and private equity‑backed health care businesses. The focus on Northern California, Arizona, and Nevada builds on the efforts of the Los Angeles Strike Force, which has worked in collaboration with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and other law enforcement partners since 2008.⁶

A Regional Initiative Within a National Fraud Enforcement Framework

The West Coast Strike Force fits within a broader national enforcement structure that continues to elevate health care fraud as a DOJ priority.

In May 2025, DOJ outlined its criminal enforcement priorities under the new Administration, targeting fraud involving government programs, including health care fraud, as a top objective.⁷ The Criminal Division directed prosecutors to prioritize “waste, fraud, and abuse” harming the public fisc, with health care fraud listed first, signaling sustained criminal enforcement focus in this area.⁸

In June 2025, DOJ announced what it described as the largest national health care fraud takedown in Department history, charging 324 defendants, including 96 licensed medical professionals, across 50 federal districts and 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices, involving more than $14.6 billion in alleged intended loss.⁹ As part of this announcement, DOJ revealed that it was creating a Health Care Fraud Data Fusion Center, intended to combine DOJ’s Health Care Fraud Unit Data Analytics Team with resources from HHS‑OIG, the FBI, and other agencies to identify emerging fraud schemes using cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics.¹⁰

In July 2025, DOJ and HHS announced the creation of a joint False Claims Act Working Group.¹¹ The Working Group’s enforcement priorities have been heavily focused on healthcare, including fraud in Medicare Advantage, drug and device pricing, referral and kickback relationships, and technology products that are marketed at increasing Medicare utilization. A year into the Working Group’s operations, DOJ has credited it with recovering hundreds of millions of dollars in civil healthcare fraud.¹²

In March 2026, the Trump Administration established the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole‑of‑government initiative charged with coordinating fraud‑prevention efforts across agencies, including through data sharing, fraud‑risk analysis, and disruption of fraud networks.¹³ The following month, DOJ created the Fraud Division, designed to coordinate investigations of fraud involving taxpayer dollars, partner with agencies that administer benefit programs, and equip prosecutors and investigators with additional tools and resources.¹⁴ DOJ placed the Health Care Fraud Unit, which is spearheading the West Coast Strike Force, within the new Fraud Division’s operational structure.

Against this backdrop, the West Coast Strike Force should be viewed as part of a broader enforcement architecture aimed at promptly identifying health care fraud, moving more quickly from data anomalies to investigations, and coordinating criminal, civil, and administrative responses for this high-priority enforcement area.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Health care fraud enforcement risk is increasing in the West. The West Coast Strike Force adds Main Justice resources in Arizona, Nevada, and Northern California. Companies with operations or billing exposure in those districts should expect scrutiny of billing practices, referral relationships, medical necessity, controlled‑substance prescribing, and other historically sensitive areas. That scrutiny may be heightened for companies operating across district lines. DOJ emphasized regional coordination and fraud schemes moving between states, signaling a focus not only on discrete conduct, but also on broader networks and business models.

Data analytics will continue to drive investigations. DOJ has repeatedly emphasized the role of analytics in recent health care fraud initiatives, including the 2025 takedown, the planned Data Fusion Center, and the West Coast Strike Force announcement, signaling increased reliance on claims data and related indicators to identify potential fraud earlier. In civil fraud enforcement, DOJ has taken a similar focus on data: the FCA Working Group is using data to root out civil fraud, and last week, DOJ announced an initiative encouraging relators to bring whistleblower claims based on publicly available data.¹⁶ For companies, that may increase scrutiny where data patterns stand out, while also creating potential opportunity for companies that use their own data to identify and address issues internally before the government does.

Technology-enabled health care companies should pay particular attention. DOJ expressly identified Northern California as a health care technology hub, describing Silicon Valley as “ground zero for technology‑driven health care fraud schemes.”¹⁷ The initiative, therefore, underscores heightened scrutiny of technology‑enabled health care models, including telehealth and other businesses that combine technology, patient acquisition, and federal program billing. DOJ’s remarks suggest a focus on how scale, distributed operations, and third‑party relationships may affect compliance and enforcement risk, particularly where those characteristics are reflected in claims data or billing patterns.

Investors and acquirers should account for regional and sector-specific enforcement risk. Private equity sponsors, strategic acquirers, lenders, and boards should factor the West Coast Strike Force into diligence for health care businesses with meaningful western‑region operations. DOJ’s announcements suggest that diligence may extend beyond historical claims exposure to broader compliance and risk‑management considerations, particularly in sectors DOJ has identified as a focus of recent enforcement activity.

Internal reporting and disclosure decisions may face tighter timelines. The West Coast Strike Force announcement encouraged public reporting of wrongdoing and referenced DOJ’s new Department-wide corporate enforcement policy (the subject of a prior alert), which provides incentives for voluntary disclosure. As regional resources expand and data‑driven detection accelerates, companies may have a narrower window to identify issues internally and assess disclosure options. DOJ’s emphasis on early detection and voluntary disclosure underscores the importance of timely escalation and informed decision‑making within companies’ existing compliance and investigative frameworks.