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By Tim McGlone The Virginian-Pilot May 25, 2012 NORFOLK The owner of a Suffolk home health care company has been indictedon federal charges of bilking the government's Medicaid program outof $700,000. Janice Wright Holland was arrested Thursday afternoon and jailedpending an initial appearance scheduled for today in U.S. DistrictCourt. She becomes the latest defendant in what will likely be arecord-breaking year for health care fraud cases. Holland faces 34 counts of health care fraud, making falsestatements, altering records and aggravated identity theft. Thecharge of altering records carries a maximum penalty of 20 years inprison while the other counts can bring two to 10 years. Her company, A Caring Hand Home Health Care Services, located at813 W. Washington St., provided respite care for family members ofseriously ill individuals. The company appears to have gone out ofbusiness. The phone has been disconnected. Respite care is designed to provide short-term, substitute care fora Medicaid recipient in place of care normally provided by a familymember or other unpaid person. Medicaid is a state-federal programthat provides health services for low-income and disabled people. Holland is accused of falsely billing Medicaid, through theVirginia Medical Assistance Program, for more than $700,000 inservices between 2008 and 2011. The indictment alleges that shesubmitted about 1,100 phony claims for respite services in thatperiod. The indictment lists 30 different Medicaid recipients whoseidentities were used to commit the alleged fraud and who neverreceived the care Holland claimed she had given them. The indictment also alleges that after the FBI began investigatingher last fall, she altered and falsified records to impede agents. Federal prosecutors will try to get Holland to repay the $700,000,but it appears that will be a difficult challenge. Holland filedfor bankruptcy in March, and the case was thrown out after shefailed to make payments on a restructuring plan. The prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan M.Salsbury, declined to comment. It could not be learned Thursdaywhether Holland has a lawyer. Holland was in the news last fall when employees complained thatshe had stopped paying them. A WAVY-TV news crew confrontedHolland's husband, who said they were "trying to get thepayroll right" and seemed to blame Medicaid for the delay. This appears to be the largest Medicaid fraud case, in dollars,prosecuted in federal court in at least the past 10 years. It follows annual upticks in health care fraud prosecutions since2005 when the Justice Department noticed that it needed to step upits investigations, according to a report from the FBI inspectorgeneral. Last year, there were 2,690 health care fraud cases prosecutedaround the country representing $1.2 billion in fraudulent claims.That's about 250 more cases than three years earlier. The Justice Department predicts it will break that record thisyear. The department announced earlier this month that in oneconcerted national sweep, 107 people were charged with bilkingMedicare of nearly a half-billion dollars. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Power Clamp Meter , China Loop Calibrator, and more. For more , please visit Digital Earth Resistance Tester today!
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