Follow-Up: CMS Administrator Visits Two Flushing Senior Care Centers as More Than 80 Facilities Are Put on Notice
Federal and state authorities put more than 80 New York City senior centers on notice on Tuesday, October 20, including two in Flushing, Queens County, New York, that received a personal visit from Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), according to the New York Post on October 21. The Tuesday sweep, part of a crackdown on suspected Medicaid fraud, involved the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the NYPD, and included raids on at least two Brooklyn adult day care centers.
Oz confronted staff at Kent Senior Care and Evergreen Adult Day Care in Flushing, handing out letters alerting them that their billing practices were under scrutiny. Kent Senior Care has a capacity of 70, and its director said more clients would arrive later in the day, but Oz said the bills were being submitted as though the center were completely full all the time. He also noted the center's billing reflected seniors attending five days a week, while the director acknowledged many typically attended only two or three days, and he questioned billing for transportation for wheelchair-bound seniors, telling the director, “I don't see any wheelchairs here.” Finding several mahjong tables set up, Oz asked, “Should the American taxpayers be paying so folks can play mahjong?” The director said mahjong helps seniors exercise their fingers, socialize and improve their memory, particularly those with cognitive difficulties. “The whole experience was suspicious,” Oz told Fox News Digital, which accompanied him on the visits. “Is it an innocent mistake? A hundred times in a row? I don't think so.” Oz said the enforcement visits will continue in the state. Kent Senior Care declined to comment, and Evergreen Adult Day Care did not reply to a request for comment.
Background: GSM previously reported that state and federal authorities launched a joint enforcement action on October 20, which Gov. Kathy Hochul described as a joint effort by state officials and federal and local law enforcement targeting suspected Medicaid fraud at social adult day care programs, with more than 100 facilities investigated across the city. The same day, the Department of Justice announced the $25 million Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program (WHIP), funded by the Department of the Treasury and administered by the Justice Department, offering rewards of $10,000 to $30,000 for information leading to criminal charges.
(GSM, based on reporting by the New York Post)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：纽约法拉盛缅街地铁站东入口。作者 Jim Henderson，公有领域，来源 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: The eastern entrance of the Flushing-Main Street subway station in New York, by Jim Henderson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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