Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Recent fraud busts are threatening homecare providers with a bad reputation. In Memphis, an owner of a 30-yearold home health agency was sentenced to 18 months in prison for filing a false cost report.

Rosetta Perkins-Brown, owner of Elder Care Home Health Services Inc., falsely claimed $22,000 for professional fees, $146,000 for owner's compensation, $98,000 for sick pay, and $76,000 for vacation pay, according to Tennessee U.S. Attorney Lawrence J. Laurenzi.

The accountant, too: Elder Care's CPA, Larry Vernell Bullock, also pled guilty to Medicare fraud and was sentenced to 12 months in prison earlier this year, Laurenzi says in a release. Bullock assisted Perkins-Brown in filing the false claims, prosecutors say.

Meanwhile: In Los Angeles, the feds charged 20 durable medical equipment company owners and marketers with Medicare fraud in seven separate cases. The DME owners and marketers billed tens of millions of dollars for wheelchairs, orthotics, and other supplies that were never furnished or that were medically unnecessary, according to a release from Acting U.S. Attorney George S.

Cardona. One of the cases involved a suspect recruiting people to act as straw owners of four different supply companies. The indictments and arrests were due to L.A.'s Medicare Fraud Strike Force, Cardona says. Recent articles by the Associated Press and in mainstream newspapers have pointed a finger at Medicare fraud, particularly the HHA fraud in the Miami area.