JABA Enterprises Inc. in Jeanerette has been ordered by the state Department of Health to stop billing for Medicaid for a period of five years. The order comes after multiple violations, according to the state.

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office released an investigative audit Monday detailing its findings and recommendations for JABA Enterprises, a Jeanerette company accused of violating Medicaid policies.

The company, which is owned by Jeanerettte Mayor Aprill Foulcard, was found in violation of five issues, according to the report.

The report said Medicaid services were not being provided; JABA received Medicaid reimbursements for ineligible direct service workers; JABA billed LDH for Medicaid services prior to authorization; inaccurate or inadequate documentation provided, and JABA was not in good standing with state agencies. 

The report comes after JABA was audited by a private integrity contractor, whose results were released earlier this month. That audit alleged overpayment and violations of Medicaid policy. The LLA only reports the results of its findings and gives recommendations. The office does not possess any legal powers. 

The report was forwarded to the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office after its release. 

Some of the findings included time sheets and service logs completed by eight employees who recorded 768 hours of personal care services they may not have provided. The report cited independent records like timesheets, incarceration records and employee statements that indicated those employees were not working for JABA during those hours. 

At the end of the report is a response from JABA management, however, that gives a point-for-point answer for each of the violations the LLA listed. For instance, the LLA listed one Medicaid recipient who had a direct care service worker allegedly taking care of him for 10 days, when actually he was incarcerated and had family members and a girlfriend filling in the time. 

JABA’s response was the company was unaware of the worker’s incarceration, nor were they aware he was not working.

Other findings included some direct service workers allegedly living in the same home as the service workers they were caring for. The report listed six incidents in which that was a possible scenario. 

From January 2012 to June 2016, JABA also submitted $1.3 million in claims to Medicaid for services that were not previously authorized, according to the report.  

JABA continued to say in the response the company prides itself in the fact it has more than 90-percent efficiency of quality assurance of services rendered. 

“Our agency recognizes that there are some factors that are beyond our control but we try our best to decrease fraudulent activity as much as we possibly can through education and training,” the response read.