State governments and hospice fraud settlements don’t usually go hand-in-hand, but a recent case is proving the exception. The Louisiana Department of Health has agreed to pay $13.4 million “to resolve allegations that it submitted false and inflated Medicaid claims for long-term nursing home and hospice care,” the Department of Justice says in a release. Louisiana padded its federal share of hospice payments by orchestrating early billing dates for hospice claims that weren’t even submitted yet, the DOJ says. The Louisiana DOH “received a Federal share based upon the higher percentage rate in effect in those months, rather than the lower percentage rate in effect the following months when the providers actually submitted their claims to Louisiana,” the DOJ explains.