Home Health & Hospice Week

The feds continue to rack up fraud convictions of home care providers in Miami.

An RN formerly employed by 13 different Miami-area HHAs has received a 43-month prison sentence and must repay nearly $336,000 following  a fraud conviction. Isachi Gil billed for administering insulin to patients who were not insulin-dependent or homebound. And Gil was in Panama, Mexico, or the Dominican Republic during dates that she  claimed to be providing visits to beneficiaries, prosecutors said. Plus, Gil signed dozens of documents claiming she was providing skilled nursing services when she was attending classes at Florida International University. She also claimed to be providing skilled nursing visits to two and three patients simultaneously, double and triple billing Medicare, the Department of Justice says in a release.

And two more patient recruiters in the ABC Home Health Inc. and Florida Home Health Providers Inc. fraud ring have pled guilty to fraud. RN Maritza Vidal and Richard Diaz admitted to recruiting Medicare beneficiaries who would allow ABC and Florida Home Health to bill Medicare for home health care and therapy services that were medically unnecessary and/or never provided, the DOJ says in a release. The defendants solicited and received kickbacks and bribes from the owners and operators of the HHAs in return for allowing the companies to bill Medicare on behalf of the recruited patients. Vidal and Diaz are scheduled for sentencing in January.