Home Health & Hospice Week

Authorities bust fraudsters nationwide.Bad actors bilking Medicare and Medicaid home care programs are getting caught up in authorities' dragnet, but local home care providers may have to deal with the reputational fallout for the industry.In Detroit, the Health care fraud prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) initiative has resulted in charges and arrests in two separate home care-related schemes that billed Medicare for $25 million and $40 million in false claims.Case #1: Dr. Hicham Elhorr of House Calls Physicians submitted physician home visit claims that were never furnished or medically unnecessary, the Department of Justice says in a release. A complaint unsealed in Detroit federal court "alleges Elhorr submitted claims to Medicare for physician home visits purportedly rendered when he was out of the country, when beneficiaries were hospitalized or when the beneficiary was dead," the DOJ notes.Elhorr also referred patients for nearly $31 million worth of medically unnecessary home [...]