The Department of Justice building is shown in February in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced it had indicted 19 people in Pennsylvania for alleged home healthcare fraud. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department has indicted 19 people in Pennsylvania for alleging billing the government for thousands of hours in fake home healthcare shifts, the department said Tuesday.
The alleged fraud schemes involved more than $4 million in claims to Medicare and Medicaid. Those charged with healthcare fraud and other offenses include several home healthcare workers and owners of home healthcare companies.
In one case, one home healthcare aide claimed to be providing billable services while they were incarcerated, while another did so while hospitalized, the government said. These two and the two Medicaid recipients accounted for more than $440,000 in claims.
"The defendants' conduct was characterized by extraordinary greed," a press release from the National Fraud Enforcement Division said.
