The Office Manager's Knowledge

A home health agency billed Medicare for patients who were not truly homebound, used in-house doctors to sign off on unnecessary care, "discharged" patients on paper while nurses kept visiting, and paid doctors and recruiters for referrals. The owner later cooperated with prosecutors. A young employee who started as a $13-an-hour data-entry clerk and was promoted to office manager took referral calls, kept referral logs, sometimes handed referral cheques to recruiters, and helped schedule the 'discharged' patients. He received only his salary. Prosecutors said he knowingly joined the fraud. The defence said he knew payments were made but never knew they were unlawful, and never understood the purpose behind the practices.