Justice Department charges 19 over alleged fake home healthcare shifts

Aug. 4 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department has indicted 19 people in Pennsylvania for alleging billing the government for thousands of hours in fake home healthcare shifts, the department said Tuesday.

The alleged fraud schemes involved more than $4 million in claims to Medicare and Medicaid. Those charged with healthcare fraud and other offenses include several home healthcare workers and owners of home healthcare companies.

In one case, one home healthcare aide claimed to be providing billable services while they were incarcerated, while another did so while hospitalized, the government said. These two and the two Medicaid recipients accounted for more than $440,000 in claims.

“The defendants’ conduct was characterized by extraordinary greed,” a press release from the National Fraud Enforcement Division said.

In another case, a defendant claimed to be providing services to up to seven Medicaid recipients at once, the release said. More than 1,000 times, the defendant claimed to have provided care for more than 24 hours in a day, adding up to more than 64,000 hours.

Another aide claimed to have worked more than 8,700 overlapping hours.

“They are not paperwork errors or good-faith accounting errors,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald. “They involve supposed home health aides who billed the taxpayer for home care services but never actually provided those services — and supposed Medicare patients who conspired with other fraudsters to bill the taxpayer for completely unnecessary health services.”

The Fraud Division said several of those charged claimed to provide services in the United States while they were out of the country.

“We have home healthcare services that were billed by aides that were dead, that were in prison, that were selling drugs … aides who were billing while jetsetting across the Caribbean and Europe,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf.

In another case, a defendant posted photos of himself sitting by a resort pool in Miami to social media during a time when he told the government he was providing home healthcare work.

“Healthcare fraud is not a victimless crime,” said Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI Philadelphia field office. “It undermines public trust and diverts critical resources from patients who need them. No single agency can tackle complex healthcare fraud schemes alone.”