Home Health & Hospice Week

An HHA owner was caught falsifying her Medicaid-provider application, and then billing the program for services not rendered, according to the Florida Attorney General’s office.

Edna Lorraine Watkins, the owner of Homecare Unlimited LLC, was arrested on two counts of Medicaid provider fraud and one count of grand theft. From January 2008 to June 2011, Watkins allegedly billed Medicaid for services to individuals who were ineligible for Medicaid, some of which were in jail at the time that services were supposedly rendered, the AG’s office states.

The AG’s office is accusing Watkins of defrauding Medicaid of more than $400,000, specifically from Florida’s Aged and Disabled Adult Waiver Program. Watkins also purportedly falsified her application to become a Medicaid provider by using a fake social security number and concealing her prior felony convictions, the AG’s office reports. Watkins faces up to 90 years in prison and $300,000 in fines if she’s convicted. She is already incarcerated at this time for prescription drug trafficking charges.