Home Health & Hospice Week
Physician Pleads Guilty In HHA Fraud Scheme
It's not just the HHA-related staff that are going down in a $25 million fraud scheme allegedly perpetrated by ABC Home Health and Florida Home Health Care Providers Inc. in Miami. On Aug. 23, physician Jose Nunez pled guilty to prescribing medically unnecessary services, including home health and therapy, care plans and medical certifications, from January 2006 until March 2009, in exchange for kickbacks and bribes. "Nunez admitted that he knew co-conspirators at ABC and Florida Home Health operated the agencies in order to bill the Medicare program for expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were medically unnecessary and/or were never provided," the Department of Justice says in a release. Nunez falsified patient records with nonexistent symptoms to make the patients appear homebound and in need of insulin injections, says the release from the DOJ, FBI and HHS Office of Inspector General. Nunez is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 5. The investigation was part of the HEAT program's Medicare Strike Force operation.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Face To Face:
OASIS Requirements May Make Your F2F Burden Heavier
Confusion persists over how to handle a missed encounter and the start of care. A [...] - Regulations:
Keep Your Therapy Reassessment Rules Straight
PPS proposed rule and illegal alien patients also addressed in latest Open Door Forum. Do [...] - Hospice:
Vital Hospice Instructions Coming From Medicare Soon
Forthcoming guidance will address hospice cap methodology, quality measure reporting. Changes are coming to the [...] - Durable Medical Equipment:
Round 2 Of DME Bidding Adds Nationwide Diabetic Supplies
Program expands to 91 metro areas in 2013. If your patients aren't affected by competitive [...] - Audits:
4 Strategies To Stop RACs From Catching You By Surprise
It's time to improve your billing, documentation. The RAC program is coming to Medicaid, and [...] - Industry Note:
Medicare Introduces Payment Bundling For Post-Acute Care
The program is voluntary -- for now. CMS has unveiled a payment methodology home care organizations [...] - Industry Note:
Don't Rush Revalidation
You soon may need to submit your enrollment information again to get revalidated under new [...] - Industry Note:
Payment System Glitch Returns Claims Incorrectly
Look over your returned claims carefully if they've been RTP'd with reason code 31018 or [...] - Industry Note:
USA Today Focuses On Hospice Fraud, Lobbying
The hospice industry is getting a bad rap in a widely read national newspaper. USA [...] - Industry Note:
Zero In On Patients' Infection Risks
If you want to protect your workers and patients against infections, you may want to [...] - Industry Note:
Beware These Therapy Billing Pitfalls Under Part B
HHAs that run a Part B outpatient therapy business that goes into patients' homes should [...] - Industry Note:
Instructions For ICD-10 Billing Imminent
Watch for instructions to come soon on billing for claims that cover the ICD-9-to-ICD-10 coding [...] - Industry Note:
Providers Eye Congressional Super Committee For Cuts
The so-called super-committee appointed to propose budget cuts has begun work on its task even [...] - Industry Note:
Physician Pleads Guilty In HHA Fraud Scheme
It's not just the HHA-related staff that are going down in a $25 million fraud [...] - Industry Note:
FBI Search In Minnesota Results In Fraud Charges
When the FBI turns up to search your workplace, it rarely goes well. Earlier this [...]
