Home Health & Hospice Week

HHA denies wrongdoing in alleged fraud uncovered by grandma. You'd better make sure you're following the rules, because you never know who will be watching. That's what Morning Star Home Care Inc. in Pharr, Texas has learned the hard way, thanks to a sting operation run by ABC News. In the story introduced by Diane Sawyer, an undercover 82-year-old grandmother is taken by a patient recruiter to Dr. Padmini Bhadriraju, who certified the healthy, active senior for home care based on made-up diagnoses such as diabetes. Bhadriraju's attorney told ABC News that someone else must have filled in the incorrect information on the grandma's form. A later statement from Bhadriraju's attorneys blamed any diagnostic errors on the home care agency, reports The (McAllen) Monitor newspaper. But Morning Star denies any wrongdoing. "There was no fraud," agency administrator Estela Sotelo told the newspaper. While Bhadriraju's initial referral mentioned diabetes, Morning Star [...]