State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced a $2.5 million settlement with a Rochester home health agency. The settlement is with Home Care of Rochester (HCR), and Schneiderman says it resolves an investigation into false billings, including billing Medicaid for more than 6500 hours of services provided by uncertified home health aides who falsely inflated the hours they worked.
The attorney general says the costs were billed between 2002 and 2006, and his office says the improper business costs included country club dues for HCR executives, advertising costs and employee salaries related to marketing activities.
Until the investigation began, the company was unaware that 23 uncertified home health care aides were not properly trained. HCR also said it had unwittingly submitted false timesheet claims from aides who inflated the hours they worked at an HCR client.
HCR issued a statement which said in part:
“Following a routine audit of its 2002-2006 Medicaid cost reports, HCR Home Care has come to a mutually satisfactory settlement with New York state. The settlement amount does not represent a significant amount of revenue over the four-year period involved for an agency of HCR’s size.
“The company cooperated fully with the state’s auditors throughout the lengthy process, and HCR has taken additional steps to ensure the accuracy of our cost reports and billings, including investing in state-of-the-art technology to further improve internal processes and compliance with the Medicaid program’s complex rules and regulations."
