On February 16, 2023, Massachusetts AG Andrea Joy Campbell announced a $2.5 million settlement with Leominster-based Regional Home Care, Inc.,a supplier of medical equipment and home care The settlement resolves allegations that the company violated state debt collection and consumer laws by improperly collecting money from members of Massachusetts Medicaid (MassHealth) members.
Regional Home Care allegedly:
- Billed members for amounts already paid by MassHealth or not owed in the first place;
- Failed to provide required notice to MassHealth members of their rights to dispute the debts, seek verification of the debts, and to request that Regional Home Care refrain from making debt collection calls to the members’ place of work;
- Deceived MassHealth members by improperly telling them that non-payment could result in referral to attorneys or debt collectors; and
- Sued members in Leominster District Court even though the members did not live in that district, enhancing the ability of Regional Home Care to obtain default judgments.
- Under the terms of the settlement, Regional Home Care will pay $500,000 to the State and will release around $2.1 million in judgments against individual consumers who did not live in the district where the judgment was obtained.