Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Whistleblower Accuses Hospice Corp. of Medicare Fraud

A former Vitas Healthcare Corp. manager has accused the hospice chain of defrauding the federal government by conspiring with health insurers to enroll Medicare patients who weren’t dying.

Vitas, a unit of Cincinnati-based Chemed Corp. (CHE), is the largest U.S. provider of hospice care, which has attracted government scrutiny as its Medicare-covered patients have doubled to 1.1 million over the last decade.

Chemed fell 15 percent, the most since April 2008, to $49.10 at 10:37 a.m. in New York.

The allegations came in a lawsuit unsealed last week in U.S. District Court in Dallas. Vitas spokeswoman Kal Mistry said the company “cannot comment on pending litigation.”

In the same court, the Department of Justice is seeking internal Vitas documents in an investigation focused on alleged abuses of federal health-insurance programs. The government has told the court it suspects Vitas of “an extensive scheme” to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of “hundreds of millions of dollars” by falsifying records and hospice certifications.

Vitas has “consistently been in compliance with Medicare and Medicaid rules,” Mistry said.

The newly unsealed suit was filed by Michael Rehfeldt, a former branch manager for Vitas in San Antonio, who is seeking damages for the government as a whistleblower under the U.S. False Claims Act, which entitles him to part of any recoveries. Such claims are also called qui tam suits.

“False certifications, fraudulent billing and cost shifting to the United States constitute a widespread, systematic practice endemic to Vitas,” Rehfeldt’s suit alleges.

Full Article and Source:
Whistleblower Accuses Chemed Unit of Medicare HMO Conspiracy

7 comments:

StandUp said...

Thank God for Whistleblowers!

Norma said...

Whistleblowers are responsible for much of what is right in the world. Stand up and take a bow!

Angi said...

I hope Michael Rehfeldt's suit is successful!

And thank you in general to all whistleblowers.

Don said...

Beware of hospice. There is good hospice and bad hospice. When we discover our loved ones are dying, we're often like deer in headlites and we don't realize that hospice companies should be throroughly checked out prior to signing up with them.

Becky said...

I have heard of Vista and they are really big. Thank you for posting this article.

And thank you, Whistleblower!

Anonymous said...

Hospice has a way of making sure the dying die on time.

Anonymous said...

Hospice has changed from compassion and comfort care for those who are terminal. For quite some time the word Hospice needs to include: eliminate the problem with eye on $.

Causing a person to expire before their natural death is homicide and we need to face this head on.

I hope the feds keep digging in the dirt they will be needing new shovels and while they're at it they need to look at how this fits in with guardianship and conservatorships. Follow the tracks.