Home Health & Hospice Week

Federal prosecutors have asked the court for the power to seize 20 luxury cars from a hospice owner indicted for Medicare fraud.

The court made public an affidavit supporting prosecutors’ efforts to seize cars and cash in a case against Regina Swims-King, co-owner of Angelic Hospice in Greenwood, Miss., reports the Asso-ciated Press. The affidavit reveals allegations that a hospice recruiter went door-to-door asking whether residents needed their blood pressure checked. Angelic then used their information to bill Medicare for services never furnished, prosecutors claim.

Some of the claims submitted to Medicare had the forged signatures of alleged beneficiaries and doctors, according to the indictment, reports the AP. Angelic billed $11 million to Medicare from 2007 to 2011.

Swims-King, who bought the cars since 2009, wrote checks for a $92,000 Jaguar, among other luxury vehicles. Swims-King pleaded not guilty to a 37-count criminal indictment and is scheduled for trial Dec. 2, AP says.