Fraud and abuse in home health has led to an array of crackdowns from regulators and other authorities, but fraud issues are similarly rampant in Medicaid personal care services, according to a recent report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG). In many cases, patients have been harmed as a result. OIG has found “significant […]
Medicaid
After a major executive shake up, one of the nation’s largest home care companies has pulled a financial thorn from its side and is charging ahead with ambitious growth plans. Downers Grove, Illinois-based Addus HomeCare Inc. (Nasdaq: ADUS) has recently resolved a significant amount of debt related to a funding holdup in Illinois, and now […]
Many home health providers also offer hospice care, but tangled rules sometimes prevent patients from receiving these services at the same time. This has led to some changes at the national level, such a Medicare program to allow simultaneous hospice and curative care. At the state level, a leader at one agency in Mississippi took matters […]
Rising minimum wage levels have come to the forefront of American politics this year, with the Fight for $15 per hour taking center stage across numerous industries. Home care workers are one of those industries where on-the-ground activism has led to a big payoff—but only in some areas of the country. For the vast majority […]
Cigna Corp. has urged an Illinois federal court to drop a ‘flawed’ home care false claims suit, which accuses Addus HomeCare Corp. (NASDAQ: ADUS) and a Cigna subsidiary of bilking the government of millions of dollars by providing Medicare- and Medicaid-covered services to people who didn’t need them. A complaint filed by Stop Illinois Marketing […]
The former leader of a Pittsburgh-area hospice company has pleaded guilty following accusations of using patients who weren’t terminally ill to collect millions of dollars in false Medicare and Medicaid billings. Mary Ann Stewart, a 48-year-old from Carrolltown, Pennsylvania, and ex-COO of Horizons Hospice, was indicted last year on one count of health care fraud and […]
The husband-and-wife owners of a Washington, D.C.-area home care agency have been sentenced to 17 years combined in prison for participating in an $80 million Medicaid fraud scheme. Florence Bikundi, 53, and her husband, Michael D. Bikundi Sr., 63, both of Mitchellville, Maryland, were sentenced Wednesday for health care fraud, money laundering and other charges […]
The owner of a New Jersey home health agency has been sentenced to five years in prison for her role in a $7 million scheme to defraud Medicaid. In addition to the prison term administered Tuesday, Irina Krutoyarsky, 62, of Springfield, New Jersey, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay […]
A New Jersey couple has avoided jail time for their involvement in a plan to bill Medicaid millions for home health care services administered by unlicensed aides or not completed at all. Nelson and Sonia Mesa, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, were sentenced to three years of probation last week, and Sonia Mesa additionally received four […]
The owner of a Union County, New Jersey home health care agency has acknowledged his involvement in a scheme that bilked Medicaid out of $7 million, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced Tuesday. Paul Mil, 66, of Springfield, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and […]