Archive

August 4, 2015

Pediatric Services of America, Inc., reached a $2.7 million federal-state settlement resolving allegations that the company inappropriately failed to return overpayments received from state Medicaid programs as well as other federally insured health programs. PSA is also alleged to have overcharged for home nursing services by improperly rounding-up claims to the nearest whole hour. Connecticut Department of Social Service Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby said, “This settlement exemplifies the outstanding work across the state and federal governments to obtain compensation for the taxpayer-funded Medicaid program when medical providers cross the line.” CT

July 29, 2015

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the sentencing of the executive director of a company for stealing funds from the Nursing Home Transition and Diversion program, a Medicaid-funded program that provides senior citizens and those suffering from physical disabilities an alternative to institutional living through the use of Medicaid funds for renovations to the homes of the elderly and disabled (wheelchair ramps, grab bars, etc.). Defendant plead guilty to grand larceny, based on the submission of bids and cost reports, which falsely stated the actual costs of the projects, significantly inflating the actual costs or including services which were never provided. NY

July 27, 2015

A group of scammers who falsely promised consumers new Medicare cards in order to obtain their bank account numbers and debit their accounts will be banned from selling healthcare-related products and services under FTC settlements. The settlements resolve charges the FTC filed last year against Benjamin Todd Workman and Glenn Erikson and their companies. Their telemarketers falsely told consumers they needed their bank account numbers to verify their identities before sending a new Medicare card, promising they would not take money from the accounts. In fact, they took several hundred dollars from each consumer’s account and provided nothing in return. In some cases, their telemarketers falsely promised to provide consumers with identity theft protection services. FTC

July 20, 2015

Following a jury trial, Humphrey Udeh was convicted of defrauding New York’s Medicaid program of over $1 million. Udeh billed the state for over three thousand units of a highly-specialized and expensive liquid pediatric nutritional formula, when he actually dispensed over-the-counter nutritional supplement formulas. In order to perpetuate the scam, Udeh utilized generic prescriptions of pediatric formula and false letters of medical necessity, obtained by employees of his company, Advanced Medical Supply, from unsuspecting physician and medical facilities. He then used the generic prescriptions and false letters to support his fraudulent claims. Udeh was sentenced to serve 7 to 21 years in state prison and pay a $1.7 million fine. NY

July 15, 2015

A Hawaii administrative panel determined that Liberty Dialysis was overpaid over $7 million for treatments given to Medicaid patients between 2006 and 2010. While the Attorney General stated that the original overpayments were the result of a state computer error, Hawaii also announced that it was pursuing litigation against Liberty, which is alleged to have known it was being overpaid and continued to submit claims in a way designed to continue those overpayments. HI

July 6, 2015

New York announced a $400,000 settlement with a transportation company that was unable to provide documentation for services it had billed to Medicaid. “Providers must be able to properly document services for which they received payment from Medicaid,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “Doing otherwise drains Medicaid of precious resources, and my office will steadfastly guard New York taxpayer dollars expended to ensure quality care to those most in need.” NY

June 29, 2015

New York announced a settlement with pharmacy Trinity Homecare LLC that returns $2.5 million to the state’s Medicaid program. A whistleblower filed a lawsuit in 2009 alleging that Trinity pushed infusion drugs, which are prescribed to manage symptoms, to hemophilia patients and presented claims to Medicaid for unneeded or excessive quantity of these drugs. The whistleblower alleged improper billing for drug deliveries, including ones that patients refused to accept and excess shipments. In at least one instance, these expensive drugs were allegedly left outside a patient’s home without signature by the patient. NY

June 23, 2015

Georgia announced a prison sentence for the owner of Senior Care of Columbus, Inc., following her guilty plea to Medicaid fraud and related charges. From 2009 until 2011, the defendant submitted numerous fraudulent claims for and was reimbursed for services that were not provided to patients. An extraordinarily high percentage of claims submitted by defendant for reimbursement to Georgia Medicaid lacked any documentation, and it was discovered that in many instances, the defendant billed Medicaid on days when patients received no services at all, and for patients who had been discharged. GA

June 18, 2015

Florida joined the federal government in announcing charges against 73 South Florida residents for their alleged participation in various schemes to defraud Medicare and Medicaid out of more than $262 million. FL

June 18, 2015

Connecticut commenced a case under that state’s False Claims Act against the co-owners of a psychiatric clinic alleged to have submitted false claims to the state’s Medicaid program, Connecticut Medical Assistance Program (CMAP), from January 2010 through December 2014. According to the complaint, the defendants illegally submitted false claims for reimbursement while knowingly retaining and concealing the overpayment. The psychiatrist is alleged to have engaged in a systemic practice of knowingly “upcoding” the claims for reimbursement she submitted to the CMAP. For example, as the complaint alleges, she routinely double, triple, and in some cases quadruple-booked appointments for her Medicaid patients, then submitted CMAP using a reimbursement code, which required her to see the patient for approximately 75 to 80 minutes when, in fact, she saw each patient for as little as 5-10 minutes. The state’s complaint identifies 113 days where the psychaitrist billed the CMAP for more than 24 hours of service. Both defendants are also alleged to have attempted to conceal from state auditors the existence of databases that contained information which would have established evidence that the claims were false. CT