WAMC New York News
(2008-04-17)
WXXI photo
Subpoenas seeking business records also went out to seven companies in Buffalo and 15 based out of Syracuse.
"Operation Home Alone" has been looking for corruption in the home health care industry in New York. Home health care uses visiting nurses to help care for the frail elderly at home. Properly done, it keeps people out of nursing homes and saves money for the state's Medicaid program. But Attorney General Cuomo says incidents of significant fraud have turned up at Medicaid's expense.
The Home Care Association of New York State responded by saying it supports efforts to find and prosecute criminals who undermine the integrity of the health care system. But HCA President Joanne Cunningham says Cuomo has issued subpoenas to companies that aren't specifically suspected of wrongdoing. She says such a broad-brush approach could impair the "vast majority" of agencies that are committed to providing quality home care.
Attorney General Cuomo says several violations showed up in downstate probes. He says some schools were caught selling diplomas to home care nursing students who didn't take classes. He says they've found nurses who abused their patients, who failed to show up or who double and triple billed Medicaid for their services.
One of those nurses was 39-year old Adrian Clements of Rochester. She pleaded guilty to grand larceny charges for overbilling 70-thousand-785 dollars -- falsely claiming to have provided services to ten Medicaid recipients including five children that she never served.
Attorney General Cuomo says this type of fraud is a double victim crime It hits both the Medicaid patients who aren't getting served and the taxpayers who fund Medicaid.
Medicaid pays more than 56-million dollars a year for home health care in Monroe County alone -- and three-point-eight billion dollars statewide. A fourth of that money is paid by local property taxpayers. Cuomo says even a little fraud in a system that big adds up fast.
The Attorney General says he'll recommend legislation that would provide tighter state oversight of the home health care industry. He says he'll also propose a system people can use to check out who they're letting into their homes and what their qualifications are.
The Rochester-area firms subpoenaed as part of the Attorney General's probe are Gentiva Health Services, The Finger Lakes Visiting Nurse Service, HCR, Lifetime Care and Visiting Nurse Service of Rochester and Monroe County.
Heidi Wendel of the Attorney Generals Rochester office says there are no specific allegations against either firm. She says this amounts to an audit in which state lawyers will check for signs that experience has shown could mean abuse of the system.
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