On February 25, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a False Claims Act (FCA) complaint against an Idaho home health agency and its owner, alleging that a series of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications were fraudulent because the home health agency did not disclose in the applications that the home health agency was making improper claims to Idaho Medicaid at the time it applied for the loans.
This FCA action is a notable reminder to healthcare providers that they must be careful in representations they make to the government. This post will explain what the home health agency and its owner are alleged to have done, and then end with some tips that healthcare providers can learn from the case.
How Medicaid Fraud Accusations Turned into PPP Loan False Statements
In April of 2020, like many other healthcare providers, an Idaho-based home health agency applied for a PPP loan during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In that PPP loan application, the company made the same certifications that all other PPP loan applicants made. One of those certifications was: “Applicant is not engaged in any activity that is illegal under federal, state or local law.” The defendant had other companies that got PPP loans as well and ultimately is alleged to have received around $1.8 million in PPP loans, much of which was forgiven by the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Two years later, in 2022, the defendant was charged with and pled guilty to Medicaid fraud. The...
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