Fraud & Abuse:
6 Tips To Handle Patients From Troubled Referral Sources
Published on Thu Mar 22, 2012
CMS releases list of 78 HHAs suspended. It could be your worst nightmare: A referral source is indicted, bringing scrutiny down on you too. How would you handle your existing patients referred by that physician? That's the question many home health agencies in the Dallas area are struggling to answer in the wake of the indictment of Dr. Jacques Roy and three home health agencies in an alleged $375 million Medicare fraud scheme (see details of the indictment in Eli's HCW, Vol. XXI, No. 10). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services suspended Medicare payments for 78 HHAs in relation to the case, due to "credible allegations of fraud." CMS has now released the names of the agencies. About one-quarter of them appear to be based out of private homes, reports the Dallas News. But many other non-suspended Dallas-area agencies have received referrals from Roy and other docs from his [...]