CT: State Spars With Providers of Home Care for Elderly

The state and six of the largest providers of non-medical home care for elderly Medicaid clients are sparring in court over a new fraud-busting system that electronically tracks the visits and the work that the caregivers do in the homes. Home care could be interrupted at least temporarily for up to 1,350 clients of the largest of the firms, Companions & Homemakers, Inc. The state has removed the firm from the Medicaid program because it refuses to work under the electronic monitoring system, which is set to begin Feb. 3. The new technology requires workers to check in and check out of a client’s home over the telephone. The companies say the “electronic visit verification” system takes payroll and other critical functions out of their own hands, and leaves them powerless against glitches. The companies are also objecting because the employees are being required to call in by using the last five digits of their Social Security number, which they maintain is private information. The state says it expects the system to run well and save taxpayers at least $8 million a year in Medicaid overbilling. The six agencies who have sued the state are among at least 400 in Connecticut that provide companionship and non-medical home care, such as house cleaning, cooking, running errands, toileting, and laundry, to 17,000 Medicaid clients.

Source/more: Hartford Courant

David Wingate is an elder law attorney at the Elder Law Office of David Wingate, LLC. The elder law office services clients with powers of attorneys, living wills, Wills, Trusts, Medicaid and asset protection. The Elder Law office has locations in Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland.