Industry Note:
Minnesota Provider Faces Medicaid Fraud Charges
Published on Wed Jun 01, 2011
The federal government's stepped-up enforcement continues to spread to states. In Minnesota, prosecutors charged the owner of a Minneapolis HHA with $400,000 in Medicaid fraud. In 2008 and 2009, Joseph Vah Lavien submitted claims for personal care services there weren't rendered, Minnesota U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones says in a release. Under his Palm Healthcare Services Inc. agency, Vah Lavien billed for: services not provided to patients, more services than authorized, more services than could be performed in a particular day or month, supervision services rendered by an eligible provider, and submitting false records in support of reimbursement claims, the government charges. Vah Lavien could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.