Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE: EHC) — the largest operator of in-patient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) in the country, with a network of hundreds of home health and hospice locations to boot — has agreed to pay $48 million to resolve false claims allegations. The Birmingham, Alabama-based company had previously disclosed the matter in its public filings […]
Category: Fraud
Three additional home health agency owners have been sentenced to a combined 117 months in prison for their roles in multi-million dollar fraud schemes. The recent sentencings bring April’s home health-related fraud cases to at least five overall, a total that broadly reflects the increased scrutiny and oversight the industry currently faces. On April 22, […]
Federal watchdogs continue to ramp up oversight of home care companies for minimum wage and overtime pay violations, a Wednesday report from Bloomberg Law suggests. Meanwhile, caregiver registries are creating uncertainty as to whether they should be considered employers. Over the past few months, several home care companies across the U.S. have been met with […]
So far, April has already seen two home health industry officials sentenced to a combined 15 years of prison time for their roles in multi-million scams, plus a conviction in the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) biggest health care fraud scheme ever. On April 4, DOJ announced the former director of nursing and administration of […]
HomeCare.com alum joins LifeMatters Silver Spring, Maryland-based home care provider LifeMatters has hired a new COO. Daniel Gold comes to the position after serving as executive vice president and COO of HomeCare.com, which offers tools and technologies to connect families and caregivers. Gold has worked in different capacities within the post-acute care since the early […]
Despite increased oversight efforts, improper payments under Medicare and Medicaid are costing the federal government billions of dollars, a new report from the watchdog arm of Congress has found. And home health providers appear to be the root of the problem. In fiscal year 2018, improper Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) payments totaled $31.6 billion for all […]
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is making good on its long-held promise to ramp up oversight of home- and community-based services, requesting an extra $10 million in its fiscal year 2020 budget to tackle fraud, waste and abuse in those areas. The extra funding — which would increase this portion of OIG’s budget […]
If you operate a home health agency, Laura Long and her colleagues are probably the last people you want to hear from. Long is the Medicare operations lead at AdvanceMed, one of five unified program integrity contractors (UPICs) nationwide hired by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to audit and investigation home health […]
Federal authorities took action against a handful of individuals and companies last month for their roles in multimillion-dollar home health fraud schemes. On Feb. 15, a Michigan woman pleaded guilty for her role as a patient recruiter in a scheme involving about $1.2 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for home health care procured through kickback […]
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) made nearly half a dozen announcements at the end of January regarding Medicare fraud involving home health agencies. Among them: A Miami woman was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Jan. 17 for her role in a $4.66 million health care fraud scheme involving several Florida-based […]