May 62026

DOJ’s National Fraud Enforcement Division Launches West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force

Kristin Graham Koehler, Jaime L.M. Jones, Lisa H. Miller, Dave Anderson, Sheila A.G. Armbrust, Douglas A. Axel, Kevin R. Rubino and Mallory W. Edel

In a further sign that healthcare fraud enforcement remains a top Department of Justice (“DOJ”) priority, on April 30, 2026, the National Fraud Enforcement Division ( “Fraud Division”) announced the launch of the West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force (“West Coast Strike Force”).  While the Fraud Division was itself newly created, this latest news is of a piece with the traditional model and enforcement approach of DOJ’s dedicated health care fraud team going back to 2007.  Nationally, since its inception, the HCF Strike Force program has been responsible for the prosecution of over 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion.

Most recently, DOJ’s Health Care Fraud (“HCF”) Unit—which was absorbed into and renamed the HCF Section within the Fraud Division—announced expansion of its long-running Strike Force program into the District of Massachusetts, long a leader in False Claims Act enforcement.  The West Coast Strike Force represents an expansion further still of the HCF Section’s reach.  Consistent with the Strike Force model, the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Arizona, District of Nevada, and Northern District of California will partner with HCF Section prosecutors and relevant law enforcement agencies (HHS-OIG, FBI, and DEA) to build cases in the region based on data analytics as well as traditional case sources (cooperators, whistleblowers, and tips).

DOJ’s announcement of the new Strike Force highlights accelerating health care fraud trends across all three districts, including the growth of technology-driven health care fraud in Northern California.  The announcement points to several recent high-impact prosecutions as the foundation for the new Strike Force, including the conviction of medical technology company executive for COVID-19 health care fraud.  DOJ encourages members of the public to report wrongdoing and references DOJ’s corporate enforcement policy (the “CEP”), which contains incentives for companies to voluntarily disclose misconduct.

For companies and individuals in the healthcare and life sciences industries, this obviously raises greater risk not just of criminal investigations by those U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, but also of parallel False Claims Act investigations and other consequences.  Such companies operating or selling products on the West Coast, as well as investors looking to acquire such companies, should reassess their compliance programs and evaluate whether the programs are adequately built to address the traditional drivers of fraud and FCA enforcement.

This post is as of the posting date stated above. Sidley Austin LLP assumes no duty to update this post or post about any subsequent developments having a bearing on this post.

Kristin Graham Koehler

Washington, D.C.

kkoehler@sidley.com

Jaime L.M. Jones

Chicago

jaime.jones@sidley.com

Lisa H. Miller

Washington, D.C.

lisa.miller@sidley.com

Dave Anderson

San Francisco

dlanderson@sidley.com

Sheila A.G. Armbrust

San Francisco

sarmbrust@sidley.com

Douglas A. Axel

Los Angeles

daxel@sidley.com

Kevin R. Rubino

San Francisco

krubino@sidley.com

Mallory W. Edel

New York

medel@sidley.com

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