Home Care Provider to Pay $150 Mil in Fraud Settlement

A national home health care provider has agreed to pay $150 million to settle allegations that it fraudulently billed Medicaid and other government programs for services that weren’t provided.

The agreement comes in a deal between Maxim Healthcare Services and the federal government in addition to more than 40 states.

Government officials had alleged that Maxim — which provides home health services to people with disabilities and other health needs — ran a “nationwide scheme” to bilk federal benefits programs out of over $61 million between 2003 and 2009.

The wrongdoing was first uncovered by Richard West, a New Jersey resident who noticed that Maxim had billed Medicaid for services he never received.

“This type of fraud uses patients as pawns in a game of corporate greed that puts cash over care, running up the bills on the very people our public health care programs are supposed to benefit,” said Tony West, assistant attorney general of the civil division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

“We take full responsibility for these events… and we are pleased to reach a settlement that will allow us to move forward with the important work of caring for our patients and clients who depend on us each and every day,” Maxim CEO Brad Bennett said in a statement.

In addition to the payments Maxim has agreed to make — which will be divided between the federal government and states — nine individuals including eight former Maxim employees have already pleaded guilty to felony charges related to the fraud allegations.

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Home Care Provider to Pay $150 Million in Fraud Settlement