Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) suspended Community Home Health Care, Maine’s largest home health care biller, from MaineCare in late June, months after The Maine Wire visited their office and their owner, Noora Abd, promised reporters that they were legitimate.
The DHHS issued its suspension notice on June 30, informing Abd that her lucrative business, which drew in a staggering $47,986,855 in taxpayer funding from 2019-2025, would no longer be receiving MaineCare funds.
The Office of MaineCare Services’ Program Integrity unit reviewed allegations that Community Home Health was billing for services that it never provided.
Investigators found the fraud allegations credible enough to warrant suspending their ability to bill MaineCare until such time as investigators or legal proceedings find the allegations to be unsubstantiated.
Abd has the opportunity to appeal the suspension, but it is not clear from records obtained by The Maine Wire whether she has done so.
Community Home Health’s suspension will likely save Maine taxpayers tens of millions. The South Portland-based biller drew significantly more than even the infamous Gateway Community Services, which was previously suspended and accused of fraud after billing $32,825,202 in the same time period Community Home Health billed over $47 million.
Though the billing has been cut off, Community Home Health still maintains an active license to operate as a home health care provider and continues to operate as a business in good standing.
The Maine Wire reached out to Community Home Health by phone during normal business hours to ask for comment on the allegations made against them, but they did not pick up and did not return a voicemail left with their office.
The Maine Wire previously visited its office at 184 Main Street, South Portland, in April, where it sits above a gym.
We spoke with a woman who claimed to be the office assistant and who let us inside the small office.
Abd was not inside, but after The Maine Wire’s visit, she called to inform us that she was aware of our fraud reporting but promised that her business was totally legitimate.
The Maine Wire previously investigated the biller as part of an investigation into Mostafa Alahmedi, who served as the president of the now-defunct Five Star Home Health Care before it was shut down following credible accusations from the state of overbilling.
Before fleeing to Turkmenistan, Alahmedi worked at Community Home Health after Five Star shut down.
Ok so accounting is not a Somali strong point.
steal in the millions, payback in the thousands?