Federal health care inspectors reported recently that the U.S. nursing home industry overbills Medicare $1.5 billion a year for treatments patients either do not need or never received. The report did not disclose the different practices in the private and non-private sectors.  However, thirty per cent of claims sampled from for-profit homes were fraudulent, compared to just 12 percent from not-for-profit facilities, according to data Bloomberg News and Information obtained from the inspect…

According to federal officials, hundreds of nursing homes overcharge Medicare every year for fraudulent skilled nursing services, adding $1.5 billion in costs to the program annually. Of the facilities reviewed by officials, a quarter of them were incorrectly billing Medicare. Most the erroneous facilities were claiming more costly services than those actually provided to the patients.

A judge last week sentenced a 37-year-old woman who was a former caretaker to two years of house arrest, after she stole $60,000 from an elderly couple in 2011. The woman had worked as the couple’s caretaker for three years, during which time she spent $60,000 of their money on items such as a SUV, a dog, and concert tickets. According to the prosecutor on the case, it took the woman just three months to spend her clients’ entire life savings on “things she didn’t need.” The judge who issued the…

According to police, the body of a missing nursing home resident was found last week in a river.  The man, 88, had been missing for three weeks. The body was discovered by friend of another missing man who vanished after a Christmas party.

Officials say a home health aide has sexually abused a 15-year-old girl while being employed at the family’s residence. The 30-year-old suspect who worked for a home health agency has been arrested.  Police say the man had been caring for an adult male in the home for roughly a year before he was arrested. The girl’s mother contacted police after learning that the man had sexually assaulted the girl on numerous occasions.

Authorities say an 86-year-old man badly beaten last month in an assisted living facility has died. According to police, the man was attacked by his 87-year-old roommate on November 26. The roommate used a large magnet in a sock to swing at the elderly victim.