A 60-year-old Howard County woman has been sentenced to five years in prison, with all but time served suspended, after pleading guilty to felony public health fraud for faking home health care visits she never actually performed. Falguni Patel submitted more than $25,000 worth of false healthcare claims to Maryland Medicaid, according to state prosecutors, by generating fake time records while she was working another job or traveling out of the country.
The sentencing followed Patel's guilty plea on August 3, according to the Office of the Attorney General of Maryland. Patel, a former employee of HomeCentris Healthcare, LLC, was also ordered to pay back the claims. As reported by WMAR-2 News, the case was prosecuted by the Attorney General's office.
How the Fake Timesheets Slipped Through
Prosecutors say Patel claimed to be performing home health services for clients while she was actually working in person at a second job or traveling abroad. HomeCentris, the company that employed her, was associated with the false home-healthcare claims, per the state's account.
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said Patel claimed to perform home health services while working another job or being out of the country, according to a release from his office. “Every fraudulent Medicaid claim drains resources from Marylanders who rely on home healthcare to live safely and with dignity,” Brown said. His office added that it will continue rooting out fraud that exploits Medicaid and the people who depend on it.
Part of a Larger, Active Investigation
The case remains part of an ongoing, multi-agency investigation into fraudulent home healthcare claims, with the Attorney General's office noting involvement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Maryland State Police, and the Maryland Department of Health. Because the case is described as active, further charges or a broader look at regional home healthcare providers could still follow.
Maryland's Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit, which has been federally certified since 1979, handles Medicaid fraud cases, according to the Attorney General's office. The article also cites Maryland Health-General Code Section 15-123.
A Bigger Pattern in Home Care Billing
Patel's roughly $25,000 case is far smaller than some of Maryland's recent Medicaid fraud prosecutions. In December, a Parkville mother and daughter were sentenced in a $3.6 million scheme involving forged physician signatures and fake patient files, with the mother receiving 10 years and the daughter five years of probation, as Hoodline previously reported. Other Medicaid-fraud cases have also been reported in Maryland.
Still, personal care service attendants like Patel represent the largest single category of Medicaid fraud convictions nationwide, accounting for 36% of all convictions secured by state Medicaid Fraud Control Units in fiscal year 2024, according to Epstein Becker Green. Home care programs serve more than 5 million low-income, disabled, and elderly Americans nationwide, letting them receive long-term personal assistance at home rather than in institutional settings, per KFF. That scale is part of why verifying home visits, without overburdening legitimate caregivers, remains such a persistent challenge for regulators.
ProviderTrust has discussed federal oversight of Medicare and Medicaid. Its coverage also addresses the financial impact of that oversight.
