NEW YORK — The Trump administration will require all 50 states to submit plans within 30 days explaining how they will revalidate some Medicaid providers, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced. The directive is part of a federal campaign to address waste, fraud and abuse in federal Medicaid and Medicare programs.

"It's an example of what we'd like them to do to prove that they're serious about this," Oz said. "If you don't take it seriously, it indicates to us that we might have to take the audits that we're doing to the different states more aggressively."

He said the requests for states to verify the legitimacy of Medicaid providers will be focused on high-risk areas. He said federal health programs in some states have enrolled large numbers of providers who are not delivering real care to patients but are profiting from fraud. He said he expects Trump administration initiatives will not eliminate, slow down or harm essential health care programs.

The campaign has mostly targeted Democratic states. CMS has approached at least four other states with investigations into potential health care fraud and halted about $243 million in Medicaid payments to Minnesota over fraud concerns. Earlier this month, CMS made an error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe in New York.

CMS is also blocking for six months any new Medicare enrollments for suppliers of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics or certain other supplies around the country to address potential fraud. Federal officials made several arrests earlier this month related to alleged hospice fraud schemes in the Los Angeles area.

Last month, President Trump signed an executive order creating an anti-fraud task force across federal benefit programs led by Vice President JD Vance. Oz has been working closely with Vance on other investigations related to the task force.

"Medicaid and Medicare are the 'crown jewels' of our nation," he said. "I believe this audit and others like it will save the programs we care most about."