The Louisiana Department of Health will spend more than $13 million to settle allegations that it used nursing homes and hospice care to submit false and inflated Medicaid claims.
The agency has agreed to pay $13.42 million as part of a settlement agreement, the Department of Justice announced late Wednesday.
The DOJ alleges that the department knew that rates for determining the federal share of the state’s Medicaid payments were set to decrease following December 2010, March 2011, June 2011 and September 2013.
It then had its healthcare contractor prepare, submit and pay fraudulent claims for nursing home and hospice services, which resulted in it receiving a higher percentage rate during those months.
“Today’s settlement demonstrates that we will take whatever steps are appropriate in our effort to protect federal healthcare programs, including Medicaid, from false claims,” Jody Hunt, assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, said in a statement.
“Anyone who seeks to profit at the expense of federal taxpayers, including state agencies, will face appropriate consequences,” Hunt added.
