MISSOULA, Montana—A Whitefish physician accused in connection with alleged schemes to defraud government health programs admitted on Wednesday to falsely billing Medicare and other health programs in a telemedicine scheme that resulted in more than $39 million in false billing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
FRANKLIN, Tennessee—American Health Plans, a division of American Health Partners, has announced its partnership with Empath Health, a not-for-profit hospice and home-based health care organization. Their partnership seeks to grow American Health Advantage of Florida, an Institutional Special Needs Plans (ISNP) providing Medicare Advantage coverage to the long-term care population of Florida.
SARASOTA, Florida—Tidewell Foundation received a grant of $5,050 from the Eugene H. and Elizabeth Hull Fund of the Manatee Community Foundation (MCF) to support Tidewell Hospice grief services in Manatee County.
The grant will support art-related grief and bereavement programming for Tidewell Hospice, which provides 13 months of grief support services, free of charge, to family members of Tidewell patients after their loss.
MADISON HEIGHTS, Michigan—Northwood has entered into an agreement with DMEscripts to integrate DMEscripts’ e-prescribing platform with Northwood’s supplier portal and third-party administration technology. This integration aims to increase the speed and efficiency of DMEPOS authorization requests and allow secure access to supporting medical documentation.
WASHINGTON—The new group formed by the recent merger of the National Association for Homecare and Hospice (NAHC) and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) has already gotten to work advocating in the industry—even though it doesn’t yet have a name or CEO.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota—The Department of Labor (DOL) has recovered $135,000, representing $67,500 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages, for 57 employees of Axis Home PCA Agency Inc. An investigation by the department’s wage and hour division found the Minneapolis employer violated the Fair Labor Standard Act’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions.
WASHINGTON—On July 30, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule (CMS-1810-F) updating Medicare hospice payment rates by 2.9% and setting the aggregate cap amount for fiscal year (FY) 2025.
HOBOKEN, New Jersey—Remote care solutions company Essence SmartCare, part of Essence Group, announced the integration of its Umbrella mPERS device with major North American monitoring service providers Affiliated Monitoring,
ATLANTA—Trella Health, a provider of market intelligence and integrated customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to the post-acute care industry, released its 2024 edition of the Post-Acute Care Industry Trends Report.
Leveraging the most recent and complete data available from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, this report highlights trends, ongoing challenges and emerging opportunities shaping the post-acute care industry.
This story is republished with permission from KFF Health News. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
WATERLOO, Iowa—VGM & Associates has released the third playbook of the year, “Boosting Results in Patient-Centered Homecare.” This publication explores the exciting opportunities that value-based care presents for the post-acute homecare industry.
WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Mike Braun (R-IN), Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, introduced the bipartisan PACE Anytime Act. The bill will expand access to the PACE program, which provides thousands of lower-income seniors and people with disabilities with comprehensive care.
LOS ANGELES—A Ventura County physician who worked for two Pasadena hospices pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicare out of more than $3 million by billing the public health insurance program for medically unnecessary hospice services.
Victor Contreras, 68, of Santa Paula, pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud.
ROSEVILLE, California—In these peak summer months, Always Best Care franchise teams nationwide are encouraging seniors and their families to take skin cancer awareness seriously. As leading providers of non-medical in-home care and senior living referral services, Always Best Care professionals know caregivers can play a crucial role in monitoring seniors for any concerning skin changes and helping them get prompt medical attention when needed.
The American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) reported that UnitedHealthcare (UHC) recently notified suppliers of its plans to delay implementation of substantially revised HME order and fulfillment processes for DME for members of their Medicare Advantage (MA) plans who are enrolled in HMO and PPO products in North Carolina and Georgia. The implementation date is being moved back one month, from August 1 to September 1.
JACKSONVILLE, Florida—Tallio, a health care technology innovation company, announced a strategic partnership with MatrixCare, an out-of-hospital care software. This collaboration aims to transform how home health and hospice organizations complete documentation, improving the clinician experience and unlocking staff capacity while empowering clinicians to focus more on patient care, Tallio said.
BOSTON—A Westford woman was convicted Friday, July 19, 2024 following a nine-day jury trial in federal court in Boston in connection with a home health care fraud scheme.
CHICAGO, Illinois—The office manager for a suburban Chicago medical equipment boutique has been indicted on federal health care fraud charges for allegedly billing private insurers for products that were never provided, including breast prostheses, compression garments and wigs for cancer survivors.
SILVERDALE, Washington—Family Resource Home Care, an independently owned home care company in the Pacific Northwest, announced the opening of its newest location in Silverdale, Washington. The company said the expansion represents its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for clients and their families while also creating valuable caregiving career opportunities within the local community.
CHICAGO, Illinois—The Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation (CDRI) announced that it is awarding more than $4 million in grants to 21 community-based service providers to increase the availability of quality dementia-specific respite care. The CDRI is administered through a partnership of the Alzheimer’s Association, University of Minnesota School of Public Health and USAging.
