TAMPA-ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.--On the heels of Medicare's supplier fraud demonstration in South Florida's Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties, HME companies in the state's Tampa-St. Petersburg area are coming under the Medicaid microscope.
Weekend reports in the St. Petersburg Times and The Tampa Tribune detailed an investigation by the state's Agency for Health Care Administration and the Florida Attorney General's office centering on Medicaid oxygen concentrator reimbursements at eight companies in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
According to the Times story, preliminary findings by a 12-member team of investigators during visits that included document reviews and customer interviews found instances of "billing for equipment that was never delivered, unlicensed installers and inadequately serviced equipment." Those findings will be referred to the attorney general's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Department of Health and possibly to Medicare, the Times article said.
The newspapers listed companies that were visited by the investigators as ASAP Home Oxygen in St. Petersburg; BayCare Home Care in Largo; CareMed Respiratory Services in Tampa; the Brandon, Plant City and St. Petersburg locations of Clearwater-based Lincare Holdings; Matrix Medical in Plant City; Mercury Enterprises in Clearwater; Respitek in Tampa; and Rotech Oxygen and Medical Equipment in Tampa.
An AHCA spokesman told the Tribune "this does not mean those entities will find cause to sanction any of those providers."
The Times reported officials with some companies that
had been visited were surprised by the outcome. "They told me
everything looked okay," Robert Arado of CareMed Respiratory
Services told the Times.