Home Health & Hospice Week
HH, Hospice Fraud Get The Spotlight In OIG-DOJ Fraud Report
HHA owners get 15-year sentences. The enforcement hammer keeps hitting home care fraud in the feds’ latest Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program Annual Report, which covers 2019. The HHS Office of Inspector General and Department of Justice offer up a laundry list of home health fraud cases in Michigan, Texas, California, and more, where defendants ended up with years-long prison sentences. For example: In two different Texas cases, a former HHA co-owner in Garland and a former owner and patient recruiter in Houston were sentenced to more than 15 years each in their fraud cases, the report notes. Hospice fraud gets its share of attention in the report as well. The OIG and DOJ profile several fraud cases centering on hospice eligibility, as well as multiple OIG reports condemning hospice surveys. And don’t expect the fraud scrutiny to let up any time soon. Overall, “$3.6 billion was returned to the Federal Government or paid to private persons in FY 2019,” the report notes. Medicare received about $2.5 billion of that. The 122-page report is at https://oig.hhs.gov/publications/docs/hcfac/FY2019-hcfac.pdf.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Provider Relief Fund:
Feds Lower Loan Amount Threshold For PRF Reporting
Detailed reporting requirements out next month. If one thing is constant about coronavirus funding relief, [...] - Medical Review:
CMS Forges Ahead With Medical Review Resumption
Expect COVID waiver-related reviews, attorneys warn. It’s not only Review Choice Demonstration review that’s getting [...] - Compliance:
Keep Telehealth Rules In Mind As Claims Review Gears Up
Get the facts on ‘good faith’ principles. With medical review roaring back next month, it’s [...] - Budget:
Biden Focuses On Home Care In $775 Billion Health Plan
‘Caregiving squeeze’ could be helped by more funding, unions for workers. Buckle up for a [...] - HIPAA:
Make Sure Your Telehealth HIPAA Bases Are Covered
Medical review discretion is coming to an end, but HIPAA discretion goes on. You’d better [...] - Mergers and Acquisitions:
2 Chains Get Bigger
Midwest hospice chain contemplates selling. Alleo Health System, formerly known as the Hospice of Chattanooga [...] - Industry Notes:
HH, Hospice Fraud Get The Spotlight In OIG-DOJ Fraud Report
HHA owners get 15-year sentences. The enforcement hammer keeps hitting home care fraud in the [...] - Industry Notes:
Medicaid PRF Application Extended To Aug. 3
If you’d still like to apply for Provider Relief Funds in the program’s Medicaid distribution, [...] - Industry Notes:
2021 Rates Are On The Line In HQRP Letter
Check your CASPER folder to see whether you’ll be getting reduced reimbursement rates in 2021. [...] - Industry Notes:
Meet Your New Quality Measure, The Hospice Care Index
Tune into an Aug. 5 Medicare forum to find out about a potential new quality [...] - Industry Notes:
Check Your Rates Against Your Peers' — Before Reviewers Do
Looking for benchmarking data? Try this free source. The Alliance for Home Health Quality and [...] - Industry Notes:
Don't Skip This HART Software Update
An update to the free Hospice Item Set HART software is now available. You can [...] - Industry Notes:
4-Year Hospice Stays And 2-Week GIP Stays Tip Off The Feds To Fraud
Hope Hospice in Fort Meyers, Florida, will pay $3.2 million to resolve allegations that it [...]
