Home Health & Hospice Week

A Missouri home health agency owner has pled guilty to health care fraud and other char-ges. Tina Kuehl, owner of Better Way Home Care in Ellisville, directed nurses and other employees to make false statements on OASIS and claim forms, including increasing the number of therapy visits, although Kuehl knew the patients did not need and had not received the therapy, the Department of Justice says in a release. They also falsified the diagnosis codes, and exaggerated the patients’ conditions and the reasons the patients were receiving home care from Better Way.

When employees refused to increase the number of therapy visits, Kuehl — who worked in cosmetology before opening the agency — personally increased the visit numbers, the release notes.