Home-Health Giant Settles Whistleblower Suit For $150M

Amedisys, the largest home-health care company in the country by some rankings, has settled a Medicare false-billing whistleblower suit for $150 million. Out of that settlement, five whistleblowers will split $26 million. The lawsuit claimed that Amedisys over-billed Medicare by overstating the ill-health of patients and continuing to serve them longer than was medically necessary. The inflated billing was enabled in part by a “secret sauce,” according to the whistleblowers, referring to the company’s proprietary patient information and billing software. The company, whose largest shareholder at 15 percent is the private equity firm KKR & Co., denied the allegations.