Press Releases
05/01/2023
Attorney General Tong Reaches $150,000 Settlement with Hope Home Health Agency Over Improper Billing
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today announced the State has reached a $150,000 settlement with Hope Home Health Agency, Inc. and its owner, Miledy Marmol, resolving allegations that the agency’s billing practices violated the Connecticut False Claims Act. Specifically, an investigation by the Office of the Attorney General found that HHHA billed Medicaid for services delivered by home health aides who lacked the requisite training, as well as for home health services delivered to clients without a treatment plan signed by the client’s physician.
HHHA stopped billing the Connecticut Medicaid program in November 2019 and closed its business shortly thereafter.
The Department of Public Health first notified HHHA of serious care deficiencies in December 2017. As a result of DPH’s inspection and survey findings, HHHA was required to arrange for a qualified independent trainer for its home health aides. Through a Consent Order between DPH and HHHA in August 2019, HHHA was required to employ an independent nurse consultant to monitor its operations. That independent nurse consultant subsequently reported that HHHA had not remedied its care deficiencies, continued to train its aides internally without involvement of a qualified independent trainer, and had assigned improperly trained aides to provide services in violation of DPH’s directive.
Those violations triggered additional investigation by the Office of the Attorney General, which determined that HHHA had also billed for home health services delivered to clients without obtaining a treatment signed by the client’s physician. In some instance, HHHA never obtained a treatment plan. In other instances, they did not obtain a signed treatment plan until more than 60 days after providing care.
“Hope Home Health Agency ignored basic training and treatment oversight requirements in place to ensure that patients receive the safe, professional healthcare they require and that the state pays for. Our investigation began after a DPH inspection and survey identified serious care deficiencies at HHHA. The Office of the Attorney General will not hesitate to use the full weight of our enforcement authority to ensure state healthcare dollars are not spent on substandard care,” said Attorney General Tong. "The Office of the Attorney General thanks the Department of Public Health for its invaluable assistance with the investigation of this matter."
Assistant Attorney General Richard Porter, Forensic Fraud Examiner Lisa Bailey, Paralegal Orlean Woodham, and Gregory K. O’Connell, Chief of the Government Program Fraud Section assisted the Attorney General in this matter.
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Media Contact:
Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov
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