Attorney General's News Release

February 11, 2013

Attorney General Koster reaches Medicaid fraud settlement with home health care company

Jefferson City, Mo. – Attorney General Chris Koster announced today a settlement with a Jackson County home health care business for allegations of billing Missouri Medicaid for services it did not provide.

Koster said the Attorney General’s Office discovered that Kono Care Services, LLC, and its owner/operator, Yahaya Kono Garba, repeatedly billed Medicaid for health care services at times when its clients were in the hospital.

The settlement requires Kono Care Services to pay a total of $23,108 in damages, penalties, and investigation costs, including more than $3,500 in restitution. In addition, Garba agreed to forfeit his company’s Medicaid provider numbers and to be excluded from any future participation as a Missouri Medicaid provider.

“Medicaid relies on companies like Kono Care Services to supervise and ensure Medicaid services are delivered as promised. In this case, the company failed to carry out its duties,” Koster said. “I am committed to holding companies responsible for doing what Medicaid pays them to do – making sure that services are properly provided.”

Koster encourages citizens to report suspected Medicaid provider fraud, or abuse or neglect of Medicaid clients, by calling his Medicaid Fraud Hotline at 800-286-3932, by emailing complaints to attorney.general@ago.mo.gov, or by completing a complaint form at the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud website at: http://ago.mo.gov/divisions/medicaid-fraud-control-unit-faqs.htm