A Dallas area hospice owner appears to be the target of FBI investigators after a search warrant affidavit alleged the owner ordered overdoses for four patients. Text messages were sent to an employee urging them to see that a patient would “go bye-bye” and another text ordered an employee to find patients that would die within 24 hours. The warrant made a connection between the orders and the fact that Medicare and Medicaid pay hospice care providers based on the amount of time a person is under their care. But in these situations the provider is paid more the less time a patient is in their care with survival beyond a certain period meaning the hospice is paid nothing. The FBI first began to investigating the company, which was founded by a former accountant, two years ago for seeking reimbursement for non-qualifying patients before any suspicion about the overdose orders. As of now the owner has provided no comment about the ongoing investigation.
See, Texas hospice owner ordered nurses to overdose patients, FBI says, Fox News, March 31, 2016.
