Patients Who Could Leave Home

A physician with her own private practice became medical director of a home health agency in 2010. Medicare pays for home health care only for "homebound" patients, whose serious medical condition restricts their ability to leave home. Prosecutors alleged the agency recruited Medicare patients with incentives ranging from $100 bonuses to trips to Las Vegas and billed for patients who were not homebound; from 2007 to 2015 it submitted claims worth about $33.2 million. The doctor referred one patient in 2008 and 123 in 2010, her first year as director. She and the agency's owner were charged with conspiracy and with fraud over one patient whose own primary care doctor testified her mobility was not restricted. The doctor argued nurse practitioners lawfully saw patients under her supervision, she reviewed the records, and no evidence showed she agreed to any fraud.