COLUMBUS, Ohio – A local home healthcare provider has agreed to pay half a million dollars to the government and close its operations as part of a False Claims Act settlement.
According to court documents, Academy Health Care Services is a home healthcare agency based in Dayton providing service to patients in Ohio, many of whom are disabled and living in group homes.
Academy’s owners include Jagdish, Nita and Vijay Patel, all of Ohio.
The settlement unsealed today details that the healthcare provider’s billing practices routinely caused Ohio Medicaid to pay at a higher level of reimbursement than warranted by the services provided as well as the setting in which the services were provided.
From 2014 until 2017, Academy billed for individual healthcare services when any services it actually provided were in group settings. Further, Academy nurses did not spend the time required with patients to receive reimbursement for individual services.
The healthcare provider will pay $500,000 in total, of which $250,000 is restitution.
As part of the settlement, Academy agrees to cease operations no later than June 30, 2022, and agrees that after Dec. 31, 2021, it will no longer provide services to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs, including the Ohio Medicaid program, and will not submit claims for any services provided to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs.
Kenneth L. Parker, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, announced the settlement and commended the work of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and Ohio Department of Medicaid. Deputy Civil Chief Andrew M. Malek is representing the United States in this case.
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