National home health and hospice provider Intrepid USA of Dallas, Texas, will pay $3.85 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations.
According to the Department of Justice, Intrepid and various wholly-owned subsidiaries was accused of knowingly submitting claims to Medicare for home health serivces that didn’t qualify for Medicare reimbursement and knowingly submitting claims to Medicare for patients who didn’t qualify for the hospice benefit.
The allegations involved claims over five years involving 19 home health facilities and three hospices.
The home health services in question allegedly involved:
- Patients who weren’t qualified or properly certified for home health services
- Services that weren’t reasonable or medically necessary
- Services provided by untrainsed staff or services no performed
The settlement resolves claims brought under the Medicare whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act in two different lawsuits.