Personal Care Assistance (PCA), a Medicaid benefit
Personal Care Assistance (PCA) pays for in-home help for seniors and people with disabilities. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has prosecuted PCA fraud repeatedly. Its $9.5 million MN Professional case, charged in August 2023, was then the largest in the unit’s history.
How the scheme worked, per prosecutors and auditors
In the MN Professional case, the state alleged thousands of hours billed but never worked and millions billed for unsupervised services, concealed through a check-cashing scheme.
Where things stand
Program operating. Personal Care Assistance (PCA) is among the 14 service types the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) flagged as high risk. An outside firm now reviews its payments before they go out.
The key numbers
Each figure says what it measures. A spending total is not a fraud amount.
Milestones
- August 29, 2023ChargesPersonal care (PCA)
State charges $9.5 million PCA case
Attorney General Ellison charges owners and managers of MN Professional, then the largest prosecution in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s history.
People charged but not convicted are presumed innocent, and amounts labeled alleged come from charging documents, not proven losses. Method and corrections