A New York home health agency is facing $1 million in fines relating to a settlement over poorly-trained and untrained home-healh aides it employed to care for the elderly and infirm while offering services under Medicaid.
Brooklyn-based and state-licensed Parkshore Home Health Care doing business as Home Health Care, Inc., has settled with both New York State and the United States to return $1 million to Medicaid, including $600,000 to be paid to New York.
“This home health care agency hired workers with false training certificates, who then went out into the community and into the homes of the vulnerable and elderly.” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. “This was preventable and our investigations show that is a recurring problem in home health care. This Office will continue to recover Medicaid funds from providers who do not protect the Medicaid program.”
New York’s Medicaid program requires home health aides to complete training licensed by the state Department of Health or State Education Department. Under the allegations in the case, the agency employed aides who had not completed the training requirements while continuing to bill Medicaid for their services.
“When companies that provide home health aides fail to take the necessary steps to ensure the proper training for their aides, patients are the ones who can suffer,” said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch. “We will continue working to stop health care fraud from being committed on the Medicare and Medicaid programs, especially when the fraud can impact the care received by vulnerable patients.”
Written by Elizabeth Ecker