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?
The numbers just keep growing as the Maine Wire keeps investigating each rip off is bigger than the last. Nearly 50 million dollars and DHHS hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the billing.
With all this fraud in Maine it must be approaching a billion dollars or close to it. Makes you wonder what there cut was. Stupidity is one thing but corruption is another bag of maggots.
Golly.
I sure hope this doesn’t jeopardize my $300 Janet check.
If I don’t get, there’s no way I’m voting for democrats.
Community Care Health Care accountant obviously graduated from the Learing Center.
It’s amazing that leftists nationwide are so easily duped by sub 80 IQ fraudsters. So leftists are either complicit and crooked, or are sharing the shallow end of the IQ pool with the Somalians.
This is a massive amount of taxpayer money. Why was this allowed to continue long before the Maine Wire exposed this fraud to the public? Who gave the order in our state government to look the other way while this fraud continued? Will anyone ever be held accountable?
What about the Somalian’s that stole our tax money that was intended to help those in need? Will our money be recovered? Will they be prosecuted or even deported?
Why is Maine media so silent about this? Wouldn’t this be an amazing story? Could you imagine the press coverage from liberal Maine media if this happened under the watch of a Republican controlled administration?
The big question is can we ever trust any democrat controlled administration with our public trust?
If you really think the jackass party was unaware of all of the fraud occurring then I have a bridge to sell you.
Wake up people! Follow the money!
The jackass party knows darn well what’s going on with all of the fraud. They know about it, they encourage it, and they DEFEND it because THEY’RE PROFITING FROM IT!!!
Where do you think they came up with the money to light on fire promoting a nazi, rapist, misogynist, racist or a mortgage fraud admitting, cousin diddling, lying, phony for Senate?
If you vote for the jackass party you are enabling more of this behavior.
When are people going to Jail?
I am so appalled at what I am hearing I just got off the phone with Janet Mills office! My next call is to Hannah Pingree, Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree and ask “Why they are not addressing this situation to the public and your constituents as we WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU ARE GOING TO HANDLE THIS if elected”? My next call is the DHHS and ask when they will be evaluating the Moonlight Group Homes which have collected over 3 million dollars for care of vulnerable autistic adults who twice been reported for allowing vulnerable autistic young men to wander the streets of Lewiston unattended!!!!! Their charge for ONE AUTISTIC CLIENT was 33,000 dollars per month and Maine Wire discovered poor living conditions with filth, broken glass and too many other atrocities to mention, and caregivers WHO COULD NOT EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH administering care!!!@!! Totally unacceptable and screams abuse and neglect and fraud by the higher ups running this scam to me!!!!!! Susan Mooers RN/BSN {University of Maine Graduate}