(LEGAFI) -- A 63-year-old wheelchair-bound Medicaid patient has helped the government secure a $150 million fraud settlement with Maxim Healthcare after exposing widespread Medicaid fraud at the multi-billion-dollar healthcare corporation.

 

The $150 million Maxim Medicaid fraud settlement is the largest ever involving home healthcare services.

 

Whistleblower Richard West accused Maxim Healthcare of submitting false claims for services it did not provide or that were improperly documented, and of operating offices that were not properly licensed.

 

West filed the Maxim Healthcare whistleblower lawsuit after being told in September 2004 that his Medicaid benefits had been suspended because he had exceeded his monthly cap. West, who is wheelchair bound and uses a ventilator, started receiving in-home care from Maxim in March 2003. West kept detailed records of his in-home treatment and knew that he could not have exceeded his monthly cap. His records determined that Maxim had billed Medicaid for 735 hours of nursing care he never received -- fraudulent charges that amounted to more than $20,000.

 

West took his evidence to New Jersey officials, Medicaid and a social worker, who all ignored him. Finally, he found an attorney and filed a whistleblower lawsuit under the False Claims Act that triggered the government investigation into Maxim Healthcare.

 

To date, nine former Maxim employees, including three senior managers, have pleaded guilty to felony charges for committing the fraud. Investigators found that Maxim had submitted more than $61 million in fraudulent bills to Medicaid and the Veterans Affairs program.