Using Convenient Technology to Prevent Fraud in the Home Care Industry

The Justice Department recently announced that it is charging hundreds of individuals with committing Medicare fraud worth $900 million dollars. This marks the largest takedown of fraud committed by personal care assistants, home care agencies, and other medical companies ever. Most of these cases involved billing Medicare and/or Medicaid for treatments that were never provided. Sadly, this is just the latest example of an issue that has plagued the home care industry for decades.

For years, the standard method for billing for home care services involved completing and submitting paper timesheets that outlined details on the care provided. Unfortunately, this method allows for inaccurate time keeping and makes it difficult to analyze the quality of home care being provided. While there have been steps taken to ensure accuracy and prevent fraud, there is still an opportunity to greatly improve these regulations.

The home care professionals at Best Home Care work hard to ensure accurate and honest billing for all our home care clients. One way we do this is through the use of our Timesheet app. This compliance software for smartphones tracks the amount of hours a personal care assistant works, provides a unique way of verifying these services, and allows for the quality of home care to be assessed. Here’s how it works:

1. A home care worker or PCA records the hours they worked and details the services they provided.
2. To ensure compliance, they may be asked to photograph themselves with their client.
3. This data is sent to and stored in a secure database.
4. The information can be downloaded and analyzed by home care agencies, home care recipients, and payers like the state or insurance companies.
5. The data provided can also be compared to a home care recipient’s goals as a way to measure the quality of care.

While fraud is still an issue in this industry, we believe that technology holds the answer. We encourage all our employees to use the app and are working with other Twin Cities home care agencies to bring our Timesheet app into their system. To learn more about the Timesheet app and how Best Home Care is working to prevent fraud in the home care industry, contact our home care professionals today!