Home Health & Hospice Week
HHA Owner, Clinical Director Charged With Fraud
Two RNs have been charged in a $27 million Medicare fraud scheme in the Boston area.
At Home VNA owner Michael Galatis and clinical director Janice Troisi billed Medicare for home care services that weren’t medically necessary or furnished, the Department of Justice alleges in a release. Galatis and Troisi trained VNA nurses to recruit seniors through wellness clinics held at senior residential facilities, prosecutors say. Then the nurses fudged documentation to make the patients appear homebound and eligible for services. The VNA’s paid medical director signed certifications for the ineligible patients, authorities allege.
Galatis and Troisi also discouraged nurses from discharging patients and retaliated against nur-ses who recommended discharge, reports The Me-troWest Daily News.
Many of the patients actually worked and took out-of-state vacations, the DOJ notes. VNA nurses complained that the patients didn’t want services and weren’t home when they visited. Often, the patients’ primary care physicians would direct the VNA to terminate services when the docs found out, but the VNA disregarded the directions.
Galatis used proceeds from the scheme to pay for a $750,000 house in Natick. The indictment says authorities are seeking to seize money in both Galatis’ and the VNA’s account, according to the Daily News.
Home Health & Hospice Week
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