By Jacquie Rath
Nurses on Hand provides home health care to Nassau County seniors. The organization had a contract with Nassau County from January 2003 to January 2005 to provide services to Medicaid recipients. Last January, during a routine review of Medicaid service providers by Nassau County's Investigations Department, $200,000 worth of billings by Nurses on Hand were identified as potentially fraudulent.
According to Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, Investigations Commissioner Bonnie Garone determined that the firm had billed the county for 10,000 hours of care that it could not substantiate. "Medicaid is a vitally important program for the neediest of our residents," said Suozzi, "and every effort to cut fraud, waste and abuse must be pursued. I commend my team of investigators for uncovering this fraud."
After determining that the county was incorrectly billed, Garone forwarded the case to the state attorney general's office for further investigation. "The effort to combat Medicaid fraud requires close cooperation by different levels of government," Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said. "My office is pleased to work cooperatively with law enforcement and local governments to ensure that Medicaid patients are protected and tax dollars are used wisely."
The formal complaint alleges that Stanzione and her firm misrepresented the hours company representatives worked, and falsified documents used to verify their services. The lawsuit seeks to mandate an audit of the company's books, recover all Medicaid costs improperly paid to Nurses on Hand Registry Inc. over a two-year period, and assess appropriate fines and costs associated with the investigation.
