Medicaid provider accused of fraud

The Boston Globe reports:

A nonprofit agency that promoted itself as a compassionate organization devoted to helping disabled, indigent adults stay in their homes was accused by state prosecutors yesterday of running a cynical scam, billing the state for about 20 patients who had been dead for some time.

Prosecutors also said Adlife Healthcare - run by Sharon Richardson at locations in Framingham, Dorchester, Hyannis, and West Springfield - charged Medicaid for home health aid services rendered to more than 100 infirm patients even though its staff had not done the work.

These billing practices, as well as three other unrelated Medicaid fraud schemes in the state, siphoned a total of $10 million from MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program providing health insurance for the poor, Attorney General Martha Coakley said yesterday in announcing the grand jury’s indictment of 10 individuals.

A politically run health care system is ripe for fraud. It's time to separate health care from state.