Compassionate Care Hospice of New York, LLC. reached a settlement with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Wednesday over allegations that it submitted false claims to the state’s Medicare and Medicaid program.
Compassionate Care will pay a $6 million settlement for billing Medicaid and Medicare for services it allegedly didn’t provide or provided inadequate services. Medicaid will receive $1.68 million, with $1.08 million of that being returned to the state of New York. The rest of the money will go to Medicare.
As part of the settlement, the for-profit health care company also agreed to sign a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General.
“Those who defraud Medicaid are looting from taxpayers and depriving vulnerable New Yorkers of important medical care, and my office will hold them accountable,” Schneiderman said. “Today’s settlement will recover the Medicaid funds that were improperly obtained, along with extra statutory damages.”
The alleged fraud came to light after a whistleblower who once worked at the company's Bronx location complained that Compassionate Care violated the New York False Claims Act and the federal False Claims Act.
Compassionate Care submitted the claims to Medicaid between May 2010 and September 2011.