By Andrew L. Wang
June 06, 2014
A federal watchdog has determined that more than 90 percent of hospice claims sampled in an audit involved care provided by workers who didn’t meet state licensing requirements.
The audit report, which was published today by the inspector general of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, sampled 120 claims from 2009 and 2010 and found that in 110 of them, hospices didn’t ensure that workers had passed an initial health evaluation within 30 days of hiring. The screening involves a physical exam and a skin test for tuberculosis exposure, the audit says.
In an additional 20 claims, the hospices did not ensure that a background check had been done on workers, in accordance with state licensing requirements.
The audit estimates that the services provided by unqualified hospice workers totaled $13.4 million in Medicaid payments.