A New York-based home care agency is being placed under the microscope for its treatment of immigrant workers. Allcare Homecare Agency Inc. allegedly threatened to report immigrant workers to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents when they complained about unpaid wages, according to a Friday statement from the New York State Attorney General’s Office. As […]
Category: Fraud
Home Health Provider Charged in Largest Ever Cash-for-Patient Scheme in NorCal The Bay Area’s largest home health care provider has been charged by federal prosecutors with paying doctors in a Medicare kickback scheme involving millions of dollars of payments in cash, Warriors tickets, designer handbags and more. Amity Home Health Care paid kickbacks to doctors, […]
Guardian Healthcare resolves allegations Boston-based Guardian Healthcare has entered into a financial settlement with MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, according to Law360. The home-based care provider — which offers home health and home care services — agreed to pay $1.95 million to resolve allegations that it submitted Medicaid claims without physician authorization that the services were […]
In a new report released Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) highlighted dozens of its unimplemented recommendations for reducing fraud, waste and abuse throughout the Medicare and Medicaid systems. Many of the recommendations were tied to home health, hospice and personal care services, in addition to how […]
As restitution for violating state wage laws, a Massachusetts home health care company and its owner have been ordered to pay $162,000 in penalties and back wages to more than 230 employees. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Monday that Worcester-based Pinnacle Home Healthcare Services Inc. and owner Pauline Mwangi failed to pay caregivers their […]
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is looking to relax federal anti-kickback rules related to how, when and where physicians refer their patients. Doing so could mean smoother referral relationships for home health providers, especially the biggest ones and those operating within an accountable care organization (ACO). Efforts to loosen anti-kickback regulations come from the […]
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 […]
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 […]