DeKalb County, Ga., Superior Court Judge Shondeana Morris in Georgia has sentenced Helping Hearts Hospice CEO and Owner Nourolzaman Tucker to five years probation after he pled guilty to a felony count of Medicaid Fraud. Tucker was ordered to pay restitution to the tune of $5,681.86, in addition to a separate fine of $5,000.
The Georgia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the fraud case after receiving allegations of improper billing practices that prompted review into the CEO’s flight records during the course of the previous two years.
Assistant Attorney General Henry Hibbert prosecuted the case, with filings announced by Attorney General Chris Carr.
“Medicaid providers are expected to follow accurate and honest accounting practices, and those who choose to exploit this system will be held accountable,” said Carr. “We will not tolerate the abuse of Georgia’s Medicaid program as a means to steal from our citizens in their final moments of need.”
Based in Snellville, Ga., Helping Hearts Hospice is a community-based hospice and palliative care provider that had a daily census of roughly 20 patients. The business is now permanently closed.
The court has prohibited Tucker from practicing as a provider of health care services under Medicaid and Medicare programs.
Investigations revealed that Tucker allegedly had misused Medicare funds by frequently taking international airline flights on dates when she had claimed to have provided hospice care to patients. Investigators additionally found an “intentional pattern of overlapping billing and intentional overbilling,” that lacked documentation of travel time between patients’ homes.
Regulatory scrutiny has been on the rise in hospice as utilization and associated costs spur agencies to focus on industry practices. Improper billing and documentation errors are often red flags that can bring regulatory attention to a hospice’s doorstep.
Regulators have kept a close eye on hospice Medicare spending, with the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Officer of the Inspector General (OIG) honing focus on longer lengths of stay, billing for services deemed unrelated to the terminal diagnosis and use of general inpatient care, among other factors.
“We will continue our efforts to save and protect taxpayer dollars, no matter the amount, while also preserving the integrity of Georgia’s publicly-funded health programs,” said Carr.
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