Former Home Health Agency Owners Sentenced to Prison, Ordered to Pay Over $10.7M

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, […]

Labor Department Cracks Down on Home Care Providers

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 […]

LifeMatters Hires New COO, HHS Inspector General to Resign

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 […]

CMS Made $3.2 Billion in Improper Home Health Payments in 2018

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 […]

How to Handle a Home Health Audit, According to a CMS Auditor

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 […]

Feds Go After Patient Recruiters in Home Health Kickback Schemes

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 […]

DOJ Announces More Than $21M in Home Health Fraud, Kickback Schemes

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 […]

Curo Subsidiary SouthernCare Settles Whistleblower Lawsuit for $5.9 Million

A subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest hospice companies — Curo Health Services — has agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle a federal whistleblower lawsuit claiming that the company submitted Medicare claims that were medically unnecessary or lacked documentation. Curo Health Services was acquired by Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) and private equity […]