Feds and state law enforcement raid more than 100 adult daycare centers suspected of fraud

ALBANY — State and federal law enforcement conducted a sweeping raid of more than 100 adult daycare providers on Tuesday, part of a monthslong investigation into alleged widespread Medicaid fraud, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.

The coordinated crackdown targeted providers that offer daytime supervision, meals, social activities and personal care services for seniors and adults with impaired cognitive function.

There are more than 400 such programs serving 45,000 adults statewide at a yearly cost of more than $500 million, according to the state. State officials did not provide a geographic breakdown, but reports said the raids happened in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. 

The daycares are a federally authorized Medicaid service overseen by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The benefit is available through the state’s Medicaid managed long-term care program.

The monthslong investigation involves more than a dozen federal, state and local agencies and comes as the Trump administration has targeted healthcare providers suspected of fraud in mostly blue states.

Hochul announced the crackdown during a separate news conference announcing the arrests of 16 people suspected of taking part in auto insurance fraud.

Hochul’s office said the state Department of Health had been trying to improve oversight of the program for years, including conducting audits and investigations.

Between 2021 and 2025, the state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General investigated 387 people related to social adult daycare operations and sent roughly 100 cases to the state Attorney General's Office for prosecution.

It was not immediately clear how many of those cases resulted in convictions.

Federal authorities have conducted their own investigations.

Several people, including the center's owner, were charged in a $68 million scheme to defraud Medicaid by paying kickbacks for services that were not provided at two Brooklyn adult day cares and a home healthcare company. 

In a separate case, federal prosecutors alleged two Queens men stole more than $120 million from Medicare and Medicaid through a scheme involving a pharmacy and adult daycare centers.

In July, the state Department of Health put a moratorium in place on new social adult daycare providers over concerns about fraud and program integrity.

Hochul said she was directing the Health Department to present options by the end of the year to put in place additional reforms including potentially phasing out the day care program. Adults in the program would be transitioned to other programs that support seniors.

"This joint effort between state and federal agencies to uncover and crack down on bad actors in New York builds on years of efforts to improve program oversight regulations," Hochul said in a statement.