Corporate Compliance

Assisted living home owner bills Medicaid from unlicensed facility

Compliance Monitor, September 23, 2009

Authorities arrested an adult family care home owner for concealing an unregistered family facility, according to the Department of Justice release. Pensacola, FL resident, Novella Edwards, had a license to run an assisted living home, but the DOJ discovered Edwards was secretly running a second, unlicensed facility just a few blocks away.
 
Edwards’s additional residents were being supervised by a renter who told investigators that she prepared meals, cleaned, did laundry, and dispersed medications. Edwards filed Medicaid reimbursement forms for patients at both facilities, according to the DOJ.

The DOJ discovered the scheme while conducting a routine check on the family home. According to the release, the reviewers found more medical files than residents, which sparked the investigation.

Edwards faces one count of Medicaid fraud and one count of operating an assisted living facility without a license. Edwards could serve up to five years in prison and pay a $5,000 fine for each count, if convicted.

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