Three years following a final rule that will allow for fingerprinting of workers—a measure targeting Medicare fraud—the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is finally making plans to contract with a company to conduct the background checks, according to a Modern Healthcare report. The fingerprint screening is one of several mechanisms now allowed by the […]
Category: Medicare
New York-based long-term care provider CenterLight Health System is now providing skilled healthcare services at home with the launch of a new, proprietary home health agency. CenterLight Certified Home Health Agency will provide short-term care to individuals who need skilled healthcare services within their homes as they recover from an illness or procedure following a […]
Two patient recruiters for Florida home health companies were sentenced on Dec. 12 for their roles in a $48 million Medicare fraud scheme, the Justice Department announced. Elizabeth Monteagudo received a 70-month prison sentence followed by three years of supervised release and was also ordered to pay $3.5 million in restitution jointly and severally with […]
Fortune 500 company Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) announced today it has signed into a definitive agreement to acquire majority interest in U.S. Medical Management, LLC (USMM) for approximately $200 million. Centene will acquire an approximate 68% interest in USMM, a home health company based in Troy, Michigan—an investment that Centene says will underscore its commitment […]
More than half of the approximately 8.4 million Americans who receive paid long-term care were using home health services, according to a first-of-its-kind report on senior care services and users. The nation’s 12,200 home health agencies served about 4.7 million patients in 2011, the latest year when data was available, says the National Study of […]
Twenty Detroit-area residents were charged in early December for their roles in home health care and other schemes enacted in order to submit more than $34 million in false billing to Medicare, the Justice Department announced. The defendants include physicians, owners and operators of companies, office employees and patient recruiters have been charged with submitting […]
The home health industry has been a bright spot in the health care sector and the nation’s employment numbers overall, with 12,000 jobs added in November according to the latest jobs report. Health care employment rose by 28,000 in November, with job gains concentrated in ambulatory care, indicates the November 2013 jobs report released in early […]
The Affordable Care Act appears to be having an impact on lowering the number of costly hospital readmissions, as reforms under the law have helped drive down the 30-day readmission rate by as much as 18% in 2013, according to data released this week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). During the […]
A patient recruiter for a Miami home health care agency was sentenced on Wednesday to nine years in prison for his role in a $48 million scheme to defraud Medicare, the Justice Department announced. Emilio Amador was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in the Southern District of Florida following a guilty plea in […]
Although home health care represents one of the nation’s fastest-growing industries, a recent study suggests consolidation might lie ahead as agencies wrestle with maintaining profitability under increasing regulatory pressures. In the past five years, an aging U.S. population, the prevalence of chronic disease and a movement toward cost-efficient treatment options from private and public payers […]
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