BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana's health department has agreed to pay the federal government $13 million to settle allegations it submitted false Medicaid claims for nursing home and hospice care.
U.S. Attorney Brandon Fremin announced the settlement Wednesday. It involves claims submitted from 2010 through 2013, during former Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration.
Federal officials accused the Louisiana Department of Health of asking its health contractor Molina Medical Solutions to submit and pay premature claims for nursing home and hospice services, to take advantage of better federal reimbursement rates.
Authorities say if the state had waited to submit the claims when the services had been delivered, they would have gotten less federal money to cover them.
Health department spokesman Robert Johannessen says the negotiated repayment is included in this year's budget.
