COLUMBUS, OH (WLIO) - Mike DeWine announced a new plan this week aimed at cracking down on Medicaid fraud in Ohio’s home healthcare industry.
DeWine said the state has consistently worked to combat Medicaid fraud, but scammers continue attempting to exploit the home healthcare system. The governor’s proposal would suspend payments to home healthcare companies whose billing practices raise “red flags” and implement tracking measures for providers.
“One of the things about home healthcare that we've initiated is GPS, so that when that home health care provider is saying, I'm, I went to this house, now we're going to know for sure that they did go to that house and took care of that individual in the past, before we had the GPS, you know, they could have phoned it in, basically, and reported they did it, and not have done it. Now we know they were in that house, or we know they were not in that house, and that makes a big difference,” said DeWine.
The governor added that Ohio is working with Vice President JD Vance and the Trump administration on the issue.
“The fraud occurs in every state, but it's our job to be as vigilant as we can, and put the systems in place that make sure that we catch as many of these individuals as we can, but also discourage others from committing that kind of fraud,” DeWine said.
The proposal also includes a six-month moratorium on new home healthcare and hospice businesses becoming Medicaid providers in Ohio.
