Nineteen people, including several home healthcare workers, have been indicted for allegedly billing the U.S. government over $4 million for thousands of hours that they did not actually work, federal authorities announced Tuesday. The people accused are charged with <a href="https://healthylife7.com/more-than-10-defendants-charged-in-pennsylvania-home-healthcare-fraud-schemes/" title="More than 10 defendants charged in Pennsylvania home healthcare fraud schemes”>healthcare fraud and other offenses for alleged conspiracies to defraud Pennsylvania’s Medicare program
In one case, two home health workers filed billable hours for two patients while the workers were hospitalized, working at other jobs or in jail. All four people are among the group facing criminal charges
“They are not paperwork errors or good-faith accounting errors. They involve supposed home health aides who billed the taxpayer for home care services, but never actually provided those services — and supposed Medicaid patients who conspired with other fraudsters to bill the taxpayer for completely unnecessary health services,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said.
In another case, a home health care worker identified as 27-year-old Ashley Griffin allegedly submitted more than 64,000 fraudulent work hours between 2020 and 2023, including a report that on one particular day, she worked 126 hours. More than 1,000 times, Griffin submitted time cards showing she worked more than 24 hours in a single day, authorities say
“We have home health care services that were billed by aides that were dead, that were in prison, that were selling drugs … aides who were billing while jetsetting across the Caribbean and Europe,” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said
One man who has already been indicted for selling cocaine, Sean Murray, is now charged in this investigation for allegedly fraudulent billing for healthcare services
“We allege that in addition to selling cocaine, he was ripping off Medicaid by fraudulent home care services that were not actually rendered. Instead, he was at the gym, he was at the massage parlor, he was on a cruise and at worst, he was packaging narcotics to run his drug-trafficking operation,” Metcalf said
In one call he made from jail, Murray bragged about how easy the scheme was and called it “the best kept secret,”
Court documents allege Murray, Griffin and others also arranged kickbacks with the people they were allegedly caring for — giving them a share of the payments in exchange for continuing the arrangement
Another defendant’s Instagram story landed him in trouble. While he allegedly billed for home health aide work performed in the Philadelphia area, his social media profile showed he was having drinks and sitting by a resort pool in Miami, Florida
Father and son Albert Coccia Jr., 56, and Santino Coccia, 28, were indicted for a scheme to bill Medicaid for home health aide work that the son performed while actually working as a rideshare and delivery driver
Officials also announced a new expansion of an anti-fraud prosecution “strike force” into Philadelphia
Under normal circumstances, home healthcare programs allow friends and relatives to care for an ill or disabled loved one without needing to put them in a nursing home or hospice
Pennsylvania spends $8 billion on home healthcare each year, the fifth-most among states, McDonald said
