Home Health Co using illegal procedures

Nurses Career Support

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My wife is a Home Health Nurse, and about a month ago, got hired with a new company (new for her, the company has been around for years)..

Anyway, this company is owned by a husband and wife immigrants from Nigeria and they seem to be doing some very shady things in regards to their running of the company..so far these are the things we've noticed...

1) they claim the company is "broke" and will hold paychecks for several days or weeks, all the while the owner and his wife are buying new cars, taking trips to Nigeria for weeks at a time, etc.

2) Every office employee, besides my wife (Assitant Director of Nursing) and the secretary, are ALL members of the family of the owner and his wife. Such as, office manager, marketer, auditor, etc.

3) The employee who audits the nurses charts is the CEO's son, and is in college, and has no nursing experience nor is a nurse.

This is just a few examples of the many we have noticed. They are a private company (not publicly traded), so is there anything that can be done to get them to use proper procedures to run the company?

Thanks, Nickolas and Lisa

They can run the company any way they choose so long as they do not violate state and federal regulations or the law. See nothing unlawful about their behavior except the withholding of paychecks. That matter should be taken up with the Labor Board. If your wife does not like her employer or how they do things, she should just go elsewhere for work.

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I agree with the previous poster. However, if there are any Federal (Medicare, Medicaid) billing violations ocurring and your wife's name is on the patient chart - it could be very bad, career-wise. She could end up on the Federal 'do not hire' list simply by virtue of having been in the wrong place a the wrong time.

My wife is a Home Health Nurse, and about a month ago, got hired with a new company (new for her, the company has been around for years)..

Anyway, this company is owned by a husband and wife immigrants from Nigeria and they seem to be doing some very shady things in regards to their running of the company..so far these are the things we've noticed...

1) they claim the company is "broke" and will hold paychecks for several days or weeks, all the while the owner and his wife are buying new cars, taking trips to Nigeria for weeks at a time, etc.

2) Every office employee, besides my wife (Assitant Director of Nursing) and the secretary, are ALL members of the family of the owner and his wife. Such as, office manager, marketer, auditor, etc.

3) The employee who audits the nurses charts is the CEO's son, and is in college, and has no nursing experience nor is a nurse.

This is just a few examples of the many we have noticed. They are a private company (not publicly traded), so is there anything that can be done to get them to use proper procedures to run the company?

Thanks, Nickolas and Lisa

First of all, this is not at all unusual in home health care. The system was designed for easy fraud and a good percentage of USA Medicare dollars leave the country due to this type of agency.

If possible, anyone working in this type of agency should leave ASAP.

They can be reported to the state for investigation. If they can't make payroll, the regulatory agency in your state and/or Medicare will be very interested to hear from you. Do not report them until after she is gone from the agency. Medicare fraud can be reported to 800-HHS TIPS. They may already be in some type of situation where they can't make payroll because of a Medicare investigation where money is taken back from the agency by the government. You never know what lurks behind the scenes in a home health company.

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