A Texas-based hospice service provider agreed to pay a settlement to resolve allegations it submitted Medicare claims for non-covered hospice services.
As part of the settlement, Familia Healthcare Services Inc., which does business as Del Cielo Hospice and Palliative Care in Corpus Christi, agreed to pay $990,478.46 to resolve False Claims Act allegations, according to an Aug. 19 U.S. Department of Justice news release.
"This office is committed to pursuing providers who put profits ahead of patients," U.S. Attorney for Texas' Southern District Jennifer B. Lowery said in the news release. "The decision to provide hospice services should be prompted by a patient's terminally ill medical diagnosis, not a hospice provider's desire to boost its profits."
According to the release, the company knowingly submitted the false claims for hospice services May 12, 2017-Jan. 31.
"The Medicare trust fund is not a piggy bank to be used at will by those intent on stealing from it," Acting Special Agent in Charge Jason Meadows with the Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General said in the news release. "We, along with our law enforcement partners, will use all available investigative tools and means of recovery to return stolen Medicare money to its rightful place. We implore citizens who are aware of Medicare fraud to come forward."
It was the hospice service provider's patients who suffered in this case, FBI Special Agent in Charge James Smith said, according to the release.
"Del Cielo Hospice didn’t just unscrupulously rob the Medicare program out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, it also took advantage of ill patients who were unknowingly used for its scam," Smith said in the release. "This type of health care fraud affects everyone – individuals and businesses alike. It raises our health insurance premiums, exposes patients to unnecessary medical procedures, harms patients and increase taxes, not to mention the billions of dollars in losses every year.
"The FBI will continue to work with our partners, including the private sector, to identify and disrupt health care fraud," Smith added, according to the release.
