The kind of efficiency Obamacare is counting on

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/world/europe/19poland.html?_r=1&ref=global-home


$2M for swindle busters
By JANON FISHER

Honesty pays.
Two whistleblowing New Yorkers -- one of whom was canned for speaking out -- will take home nearly $2 million as a reward for exposing tens of millions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid fraud in the home-nursing industry.
The payout is part of $24 million recovered from three city-based home health-care companies who billed the government for uncertified home health aides, according to a joint statement issued yesterday by the state Attorney General and the US Justice Department.
Nursing Personnel Home Care and Excellent Home Care of Brooklyn and Manhattan-based Extended Home Care will collectively pay $14.3 million to the state and $9.7 to the federal government.
As a result, Deborah Yannicelli of Long Island will walk away with $1.6 million.
Maurice Keshner of Brooklyn will pocket more than $250,000.
"She's delighted," said Yannicelli's lawyer, Timothy McInnis. "She's been waiting for a long time for this."
McInnis said his client was fired as an accountant at Excellent after she alerted her bosses to the fraud. The lawyer said some of the money his client received was restitution for losing her job.
Under federal law, whistleblowers can be awarded a portion of the money recovered from the fraud they expose.
The companies supplied the home aides with phony training certificates and then billed the two government programs for their services, according to the state Attorney General's Office.
Even though it takes only two weeks for an aide to complete a certification course, "there's so much pressure to get them certified that they jumped the line," McInnis said.
The three companies also agreed to follow procedures to ensure future aides are properly certified.
"The size of this settlement underscores the seriousness of the allegations and the importance of vigorous oversight of the Medicaid program and the medical care of our loved ones," Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said.