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Press Release
October 21, 2009
Attorney General Charges Nursing Agency Owner With Fraud for Falsely Billing Taxpayers to Care for Frail and Vulnerable Patients—Many of Whom Cannot Breathe on Their Own
Home Care Provider Billed Taxpayer-Financed Medical Assistance Program $2.7 Million in 18 months; Owner, Ten Family Members Worked for Agency
The Office of Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson today filed a three-count criminal complaint in Hennepin County District Court against the owner of a nursing home health care agency that billed the state Medical Assistance program $2.7 million over an 18-month period to care for 25 sick and vulnerable patients, 10 of whom could not breathe without a ventilator. The complaint alleges that the agency owner defrauded the Medical Assistance program by, among other things, billing for skilled nursing services that were not actually provided to patients.
"Medical Assistance provides a health care safety-net for some of our most vulnerable citizens." This home health care agency deprived very sick and fragile patients—many who cannot even breathe on their own--of necessary health care and bilked the taxpayers at a time when budgets are stretched thin,” said Attorney General Lori Swanson.
Charges Against Ometta Vent Care's Owner. The complaint was filed against Barbara Ann Currin of Brooklyn Park (DOB: 12/2/1964), the sole owner of Ometta Vent Care Services, Inc. (“Ometta Vent Care”), a home health care provider that was enrolled in the State Medical Assistance program from April, 2007 through October, 2008. During that period, Ometta Vent Care employed ten of Currin’s family members and submitted a total of $2,732,775 in claims to the Medical Assistance program to care for a total of 25 patients.
Ten of the patients care for by Ometta Vent Care were dependent upon a ventilator to breathe, and 13 had care plans calling for round-the-clock care. In addition to receiving health care from Ometta Vent Care, the patients all rented housing from the agency in an apartment complex in Plymouth, Minnesota
The complaint alleges that Currin defrauded the Medical Assistance program by billing for skilled registered nursing services that were not actually provided to patients, by billing as if services delivered by less skilled personal care attendants were provided by registered nurses, and by billing as if shared services provided to more than one patient in the same unit at the same time were actually provided on an intense, one-on-one basis to the patient.
For example, the complaint alleges that for the four month period February 2008 through May 2008, Ometta Vent Care billed the Medical Assistance program for 15,426.75 hours of registered nursing services even though the company’s timesheets reflected only 813.5 hours worked by registered nurses during that period. Billing the Medical Assistance program for registered nursing services is more lucrative than billing for less skilled services. During the period in question, the Medical Assistance program reimbursed providers $40.44 per hour for complex one-on-one nursing services provided by a registered nurse but $16.24 per hour for one-on-one services provided by a personal care attendant.
The Complaint charges Currin with three counts of felony-level Medical Assistance Fraud.
History of Currin and Ometta Vent Care. The Surveillance and Integrity Review Section (SIRS) Unit of the Minnesota Department of Human Services began to investigate the agency after a patient complained that her care plan called for her to receive round-the-clock care from a registered nurse but that Ometta Vent Care was instead providing it through a personal care attendant. The SIRS unit then referred the case to the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Division, which investigated along with the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The Attorney General’s Office is handling the prosecution.
In June, 2009 the Minnesota Board of Nursing suspended Currin's license to practice as a licensed practical nurse. In June, 2008 the Minnesota Department of Health conducted a licensing survey of Ometta Vent Care, finding that nine rules had been violated, including failure to train employees, use of unlicensed personnel to administer injectible medications, failure to supervise employees, failure to ensure that patients had adequate care plans, and failure to ensure that physicians’ orders were carried out. In March, 2009 the Health Department issued a Notice of Assessment against Ometta Vent Care, finding that it failed to correct eight of nine previous correction orders.
Medical Assistance is a program that provides medical care to low-income Minnesotans. Under State regulations, a provider is supposed to submit claims to the Medical Assistance program only for hours actually worked and for the level of care actually provided, and the individual care provider's time sheets are supposed to be signed by both the patient and the provider. That did not occur in this case.
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