Home Health & Hospice Week

But HHAs aren't doing too badly at all. The percentage of home health agencies that were found or pled guilty to Medicare fraud charges is relatively small, compared to the press attention they have been garnering lately. In an analysis of Department of Justice and HHS Office of Inspector General data from 2010, the Government Accountability Office found HHAs accounted for just 4.5 percent of fraud case subjects that were found guilty, pled guilty, or pled no contest, the GAO says in a new report. That equaled 42 agencies. In contrast, 171 durable medical equipment suppliers fell into that category, the GAO says -- 18.5 percent. Medical centers -- including medical practices -- were the only category of providers that bested that figure with 173 subjects at 18.7 percent. There weren't enough hospice fraud case targets to merit their own category in the report's analysis. HHAs ranked a bit higher when it came [...]