Vasilios “Bill” Kalogredis.
On May 17, Immediate Home Care (IHC), a home health care company headquartered in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, settled a dispute with the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The $189,445.68 settlement resolved allegations that IHC employed an individual excluded from participating in any federal health care program who, while with IHC, did participate in such programs. According to the results of the OIG’s investigation, the home health care nurse in question provided home health care items or services to IHC’s patients that were subsequently billed to federal health care programs.
That settlement follows a $141,986.36 settlement on Feb. 13 of this year between the OIG and an Oklahoma City-based skilled nursing company called Southwest Trinity Management (STM). STM owned and managed a nursing facility in Oklahoma City that the OIG alleged employed a licensed practical nurse who was likewise excluded from participating in any federal health care programs. As in the IHC case, the allegations against STM involved a single employee whose services were billed to federal health care programs.
