SuperCare Health, Inc., a Downey-based provider of home respiratory services and durable medical equipment, has agreed to pay $3,315,308 to resolve allegations that it defrauded public healthcare programs by billing for ventilator services that were not medically necessary or reasonable. SuperCare entered into a settlement agreement with the United States and two states — California and Nevada — in a federal False Claims Act case. The allegations in this case stem from SuperCare providing non-invasive ventilators, also known as NIVs, for home use by respiratory patients in California and Nevada. Medicare and Medicaid provide a monthly reimbursement for a patient’s rental of an NIV, so long as the NIV is necessary or reasonable for the patient’s treatment. Between May 2013 and October 2019, according to the lawsuit, SuperCare submitted, or caused others to submit, bogus claims to Medicare and Medicaid. SuperCare allegedly billed public health programs for NIV rentals even when patients no longer needed the NIVs or were no longer using them.
