Hospice News Quotes Paul Werner on Uptick in Regulatory Oversight, Need for Better Compliance

Buttaci, Leardi & Werner member Paul Werner was quoted in a Hospice News article discussing how regulatory oversight in the hospice space has been intensifying due to program integrity news. That’s prompting legitimate providers to seek greater clarity about the direction of the next wave of enforcement actions.

Werner suggests that next wave could put ownership structures under more scrutiny as legitimate providers may be unknowingly inviting “unsavory optics” around how their businesses are structured.

“The business of health care is such an uncontrolled beast, there are always people coming into the market related to one another in some way,” Werner tells Hospice News.

“These connections are both apparent and indirect between facilities and operators. It’s a trust-but-verify pitfall situation for hospice providers. It comes down to exercising good common sense. We can expect that the light is going to get brighter, not dimmer in these more aggressive fraudulent activities over time. Your marketing, outreach and referral tactics have to be buttoned up behind the scenes.”

Werner adds that internal audit analyses performed by third parties can help identify potential grey areas.

The full article can be read in Hospice News.

• Posted on: Jun 12 2026