Man found dead after losing in-home care during state fraud crackdown in Minnesota

A man receiving in-home care through a state-administered program has died amid a state crackdown on fraud.

Industry advocate and Integrated Community Supports (ICS) provider Josh Berg has been warning of the consequences of clients abruptly losing in-home care through the ICS program, as the Minnesota Department of Human Services has been. On Wednesday, he said a fellow provider’s client was found dead after neighbors in the apartment building smelled an odor.

RELATED: Minnesota disability services in limbo as DHS pauses new licenses amid backlog, fraud crackdown 

“The police have not suspected any foul play, but it is still under investigation. And I don’t know any more details other than that at the moment,” said Berg on Wednesday morning.

The client, part of the Department of Human Services (DHS)-administered ICS program, was found dead on Monday.

RELATED: 200-plus Minnesotans ‘abruptly losing’ critical care, daily support services amid fraud crackdown 

The provider, Relief Health Services, LLC, later confirmed the man’s death and said they last saw him the previous week, but declined to comment on camera. A representative said they also did not know further details of the circumstances around the man’s death and did not share additional details about the nature of the in-home support services they provided him, citing privacy concerns.

“It’s a different situation than what we saw in HSS or some of these other more, I’ll call them ‘transitional services,’ that aren’t life and death dependent,” Berg said. “Basically, if a person doesn’t show up in a residential service or staff aren’t there, that literally puts a person at risk of homelessness, death, you name it.”

DHS stopped payments to Relief Health Services, LLC due to “credible allegations of fraud.” The provider disputes that, but said they had to suspend client services without those payments coming in. Berg said, as it stands, there is no system to ensure continuity of care when this happens, leaving clients abruptly on their own.

“When I testified here three months to the day ago in this committee, I specifically said we need a coordinated plan. That hasn’t been developed yet, and now we have a death on the hands of the administration because of it,” said Berg.

Responding to those claims, Temporary DHS Commissioner Shireen Gandhi said, “I think that providers that are taking state dollars and have authorization from counties to provide these services need to provide the services that the people deserve.”

Relief Health Services, LLC said they had been trying to find alternative care for the client since mid-November, sharing pages of emails to the state expressing concern about a “…lack of correspondence from case managers and the reluctance of [other] providers to accept new clients…”

“I personally reach out to the leaders of counties to make sure that the case managers are working to transition these people… And I have not heard from county leaders that they’re unable to handle that,” said Gandhi in response.

Relief Health Services, LLC said they took the client on a few tours of alternative care sites in recent weeks, but case managers did not respond to emails or calls until after his death. They were unsure of how or when he died.

Gandhi stated she could not speak specifically about the deceased client but emphasized that client health and safety are “a top priority.”

Responding to additional questions, DHS provided the following statement in part:

“In addition to notifying providers and requiring them to work with recipients on transition planning, DHS also supports lead agencies to ensure continuity of care. Through the Disability Services Division (DSD) team, DHS communicates directly with lead agencies to provide: 

• Information about the provider that will have a payment withhold action taken, list of services impacted and date the action is effective. 
• Guidance around what this action means for people served and lead agencies. 
• A list of people currently receiving services from the provider. 
• Guidance document for lead agencies to help them better support people impacted by payment withholds. 
• A complete list of current ICS providers with temporary payment withholds. 

The DSD team serves as DHS’s direct line of support to case managers, counties, and tribes during a payment withhold. DSD staff answer questions, troubleshoot complex cases, and help ensure recipients have alternative service options so care is not disrupted. Their engagement is a critical part of DHS’s mitigation strategy and ensures that the state is not simply directing people back to case managers without providing additional support and resources wherever possible.”