TALLAHASSEE, FL - The Florida Attorney General's office has filed suit against a Pinellas County medical services provider for submitting false claims to the Florida Medicaid program.

Gift of Life Community Services, Inc., a company specializing in mental health-targeted case management services, is being sued under the False Claims Act and could face damages of more than $3 million.

"This case demonstrates nothing more than one million dollars worth of greed," said Attorney General Bill McCollum. "It is critical we prevent companies from profiting from services that were intended to assist those with true mental health needs."

Investigators with the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit determined that the false claims involved targeted case management services. These services are intended to assist Medicaid recipients, who are suffering from mental health disorders, gain access to much needed services, including medical, social and educational assistance.

The complaint alleges that Gift of Life's case managers routinely billed Medicaid up to $40 per hour for activity that was not targeted case management and therefore, not billable to the Medicaid program. The investigation revealed that the company billed Medicaid for the time case managers spent taking children shopping, picking up and delivering a birthday cake, baby-sitting, running errands for foster mothers, attending recreational outings or simply being present while other providers rendered services.

The complaint also alleges that when Gift of Life provided actual case management services, their case managers routinely inflated the amount of time claimed. Gift of Life then submitted those inflated claims to Medicaid for payment. The investigators and attorneys handling the lawsuit estimate the amount of actual damages to be over $1 million. The lawsuit seeks triple the actual damages plus $10,000 for each false claim submitted by Gift of Life.
4-22-07

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