Andrew Cuomo Targeting Fraudsters      

It may seem like New York doesn’t have many scams (just kidding), but one scam that is very real and is being addressed by New York’s Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is home health care fraud that is paid for with Medicaid dollars. 

Cuomo has started “Operation Home Alone” which is a new program that is rooting out con artists that pose as home health care workers, but really are not.  These scams have cost the taxpayers of New York millions of dollars.

The way it works is that a real home health care worker has to have 75 hours of training and be certified to work at home with individuals who need certain health services.  The certification is very important because it means that an individual has been trained to treat wounds, feed, bathe and dress individuals and several other health procedures. 

These uncertified home health care imposters are not only dishonest, and not only basically stealing millions of Medicaid dollars, but they are also dangerous.  Since they are not trained, it is extremely risky for them to be helping individuals at risk with medical and other health issues.  For instance, the average person does not know first aid or CPR.  They do not know the correct way to lift someone to help them from a wheelchair to a bed, or vice-versa.  They do not know how to take or read blood pressure or blood sugar or what to do in case of a seizure.  And that’s the easy stuff!

Most individuals that need home health care receive it because they have health issues that they need help with.  A home health care worker is taught how to keep track of and monitor all day-to-day symptoms, vital signs and issues that come up.  They know how to track and record information that shows how a person’s health is progressing – for better or for worse.  An untrained and un-certified individual usually knows few, if any, of these procedures.

So far, Andrew Cuomo has caught quite a few of these companies who are nothing more than rings of uncertified workers fleecing the system out of a lot of money and putting patients at risk.  Cuomo has filed criminal and civil charges to the extent of the law and he is not backing down.

If you are a New Yorker, you can be happy and proud that your Attorney General is trying to protect your citizens – especially those most vulnerable – and protect the taxpayers’ money.  If you feel that you have been the victim of this type of fraud by an uncertified healthcare worker, contact Medicaid at www.medicaid.gov or call Cuomo’s office, which is listed under State of New York, Attorney General.

Entry Filed under: General-Medicare