Dr. Oz Joins Medicaid Raids in New York After Hochul Denied Medicaid Fraud Accusations

Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, joined New York and federal law enforcement in raids targeting fraud in adult daycare centers across the city Tuesday. The former television personality confronted employees at Kent Senior Care and Evergreen Adult Day Care at Flushing, Queens, presenting warning letters notifying the businesses that their billing practices had caught Washington’s attention.Dr. Oz told staff at Kent Senior Care that the center billed as though it was completely full at all times. “It doesn’t look very crowded in here,” he remarked before presenting the facility’s director with a warning letter, stating: “You’re getting this letter from the U.S. Government because we don’t believe you.”Dr. Oz’s appearance at Queens was part of a sweeping operation that saw the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Health and Human Services and New York Police Department officials descend on facilities across Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. Governor Kathy Hochul also touted the coordinated action on adult daycare facilities that are funded by Medicaid.However, at the end of September Ms. Hochul’s office told the Sun that the Trump administration’s fraud investigations into Medicaid were really a cover for efforts to kick beneficiaries off of government-funded programs like Medicaid.Ms. Hochul was responding to Dr. Oz’s claims that organized criminal schemes snatch up billions in taxpayer dollars nationwide each year.“The Chinese mafia runs social adult daycare in New York, they take a billion dollars a year out of that program and fund human trafficking on the East Coast,” Dr. Oz said during an appearance at the Make America Healthy Again summit in Washington summit September 29.“Make no mistake, this is just another attempt by Washington Republicans to strip vulnerable New Yorkers of critical resources they depend on,” Ms. Hochul’s spokeswoman Nicolette Simmonds told The Sun the following day. “New York is committed to administering our Medicaid program in compliance with all federal rules and any suggestion otherwise is patently false.”However, Ms. Hochul changed her tune on Tuesday as she celebrated the outer-borough raids, during a separate press conference on auto insurance fraud.“I want to acknowledge another massive effort to combat fraud and abuse, this time in the Medicaid program,” Ms. Hochul said. “This morning, the New York State Department of Health and the Office of Medicaid Inspector General joined state and federal law enforcement agencies in a coordinated crackdown of suspected fraud and social adult daycare programs.“This is an active investigation, so there’s limits to what I can share today, but I can tell you this has been a months-long investigation in close partnership with the federal government. “We’re targeting providers we believe who engage in illegal activity, ranging from money laundering, to kickbacks, to improper billing and other fraudulent activities,” she added.Video circulated on social media Tuesday showed law enforcement officials entering businesses including 4021 8th Avenue at Brooklyn, where officers milled around the door of a commercial building under a red sign with Chinese lettering.

Dr. Oz Joins Medicaid Raids in New York After Hochul Denied Medicaid Fraud Accusations

Dr. Oz Joins Medicaid Raids in New York After Hochul Denied Medicaid Fraud Accusations

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