Home health agencies in Los Angeles, Miami, Detroit and Dallas were among those caught up in a major nationwide health care fraud takedown last month. 
 
Charges were filed against 243 people nationwide as a result of their involvement in Medicare fraud schemes involving about $712 million in false billing, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) announced June 18. Home health agencies, private duty agencies and durable medical equipment companies were among the providers charged.
 
In Miami, a patient recruiter who worked with operators of several South Florida home health agencies was involved in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida states. The recruiter was paid kickbacks by agencies’ owners and operators in exchange for referring beneficiaries to serve as patients.
 
Meanwhile, in Laredo, Texas, fraudulent Medicaid billing was allegedly offered for personal assistance services — including cleaning, bathing and meal preparation.
 
At that agency, a patient and provider recruiter submitted timesheets for work that wasn’t provided and an office manager allegedly used those timesheets to bill Medicaid for services that were never performed, a news release states. The patient and provider recruiter received cash twice a month for illegal patient referrals to the agency between 2010 and 2015. Medicaid paid the agency about $3 million in claims that were the result of the kickbacks.