Adult medical day care centers keep elderly and disabled people out of nursing homes, by serving them meals, helping them bathe and administering their medications. But in New Jersey, an investigation found 21 centers also helped themselves to extra payments by overbilling for time never spent with their clients.
The Office of the State Comptroller released a report Tuesday that said these center operators overbilled the Medicaid program, supported by tax dollars from the federal and state governments, nearly $1 million. The most common infraction: billing for more than five days a week. The comptroller’s Medicaid fraud team found 7,849 claims, totaling $613,286, for billings that exceeded the five-day limit.
Some centers also improperly billed for services while the client was in the hospital or attending another medical day care program on the same day and time, the report said.