The vibrant, east Asian immigrant enclave of Flushing may be New York\u2019s medical fraud capital.<\/p>\n
A one-mile radius of the neighborhood boasts 77 Social Adult Daycares (SADCs), which bill Medicaid over $100 million a year, accounting for 14 percent of all daycare spending in the state, a Post investigation reveals.<\/p>\n
When The Post visited some of largest \u2014 which are private businesses that have claimed between $20 and 40 million from Medicaid over the last six years \u2014 many storefronts were shuttered, and those that were open had empty rooms with no patients.<\/p>\n
A worker at Livingwell Day Care in Flushing chased a reporter and cameraman out of the facility and threatened to call the police for asking questions about the empty facility having 26,500 patients. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n
On a Wednesday afternoon, Livingwell Day Care was completely empty. The facility has billed tens of millions of dollars from Medicaid, according to HHS data. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n
At Livingwell Day Care on Northern Boulevard, lights were dimmed over rows of empty tables in a mess hall near the entrance. No seniors appeared to be inside, but Livingwell billed Medicaid $27 million from 2018-2024 and had over 26,500 patients, according to federal data.<\/p>\n
A man at the front desk refused to answer questions, chased a reporter and cameraman out and threatened to call police. The facility has not been implicated in any crimes.<\/p>\n
A woman who identified herself as Wendy, a care worker at Bao Kang Adult Day Care on Blossom Avenue, told The Post she has one or two hundred patients a day, but said \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d when asked about the $32 million billed to Medicaid for serving 43,900 unique patients during the same years.<\/p>\n
Wendy denied The Post a tour, but a security monitor behind her desk displaying common areas showed every single one was empty.<\/p>\n
Livingwell Adult Day Care on Northern Boulevard was dark and empty during a recent midday visit. The facility has billed Medicaid $27.5 million from 2018-2024 and had over 26,500 patients. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n
A worker at Merry Adult Day Care asked The Post to leave when questioned about the facility\u2019s 31,500 patients and $25 million in Medicaid reimbursements. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n
Since\u00a0The Post\u2019s initial expose on New York\u2019s SADC abuse<\/a>\u00a0in January and a federal bust in February saw two men\u00a0charged\u00a0with ripping off $120 million<\/a>\u00a0over 10 years from Medicaid using two SADCs they owned, workers have been on high alert.\u00a0Entrances are locked during business hours, while windows are covered in perforated vinyl wrap.<\/p>\n At Merry Adult Day Care on 35th Avenue \u2014 which billed $25M from 31,500 patients during the six-year period \u2014 a masked worker poked her head out of the door, wouldn\u2019t answer any questions and asked The Post to leave. <\/p>\n Kang Hua on Main Street billed $22 million for 25,800 unique patients; Greater New York Social and Health on Maple Avenue billed $28 million for 32,500 patients; Evergreen Adult Day Care on Roosevelt Avenue took in $32 million for 57,500 patients and Sunrise Senior Service billed a whopping $45 million for 56,800 patients. <\/p>\n None of these facilities have been accused of fraudulent behavior.<\/p>\n However, corruption and kickbacks are the norm, according to those who work in the area.<\/p>\n HHS data breaks down how much each center has been paid by Medicaid and how many people (beneficiaries) are represented by each one. Source: Medicaid spending.org<\/p>\n According to HHS data, Greater New York Social and Health billed Medicaid $28 million for 32,500 patients between 2018 and 2024. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cSeniors come in and ask, \u2018Do you have any benefits for me?\u2019\u201d Kenny Chan, owner of a local pharmacy, told The Post, using the local euphemism for illegal kickbacks, where seniors get a small cut of the amount the pharmacy or SADC is billing back to Medicaid.<\/p>\n \u201cI say, no, we don\u2019t do that here. I\u2019ve lost so much business. I\u2019ve had to pull money out of my own pocket to keep the business going.\u201d<\/p>\n To illustrate the point, Chan \u2014 who didn\u2019t have a single customer during a 30-minute conversation with The Post \u2014 pointed down the street to another pharmacy he claimed was a fraud site.<\/p>\n That tiny storefront was a hive of activity, packed with seniors and three or four workers bustling around with clipboards. Chan said there\u2019s often a line down the block to get in.<\/p>\n A daycare worker at Bao Kang named Wendy told The Post she did not know how many patients came to her facility, which appeared to be empty on a recent weekday afternoon. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n Bao Kang Adult Day Care on Blossom Avenue billed $31.8 million to Medicaid for serving 43,900 unique patients during a six-year period. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cThe new pharmacies, the ones that have been here five or 10 years, they offer a lot of \u2018benefits.\u2019 About 60 or 70 percent of them have a connection with the daycare centers,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I did that, I would be very busy.\u201d<\/p>\n For Chan, it\u2019s not just local grannies who\u2019ve pestered him about joining the hustle. He said daycare workers, other pharmacists and even doctors have approached him asking if he\u2019d like to jump on the gravy train.<\/p>\n \u201cI want them out. I\u2019m waiting for the day they get shut down. It\u2019s not legal. It\u2019s crazy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n An investigation by The Post found seniors in a typical scheme get $500-$1000 a month in daycare kickbacks while the facility pockets upwards of $3,000 a month per patient.<\/p>\n According to city and federal data, Flushing\u2019s SADCs billed a total of $733M from 2018-2024, the latest year for which spending figures are available.<\/p>\n Confusion about the role of SADCs and what they are there to provide is one of the reasons most people turn a blind eye to them.<\/p>\n In February, feds charged two men with ripping off $120 million over 10 years from Medicaid in an alleged scam that used two SADCs in Flushing that they owned\u2013Happy Life and Royal Adult. Yelp<\/p>\n While Flushing is home to one of the most elderly populations in the city, the concentration of SADCs is still eyebrow-raising. The neighborhood has a total population of about 250,000 people and 77 city-certified SADCs. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n As part of Medicaid\u2019s Managed Long-Term Care (MLTC) program, SADCs are intended to be exclusively for seniors with a \u201cchronic illness or disability\u201d who are \u201cclinically-eligible\u201d for \u201cnursing home level of care,\u201d or experience memory issues like Alzheimer\u2019s disease or require \u201cassistance with physical maneuvering [during] daily living,\u201d such as to eat or bathing, according to the NYS Department of Health.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the NYC Department of the Aging further clarified, telling The Post: \u201cThere are important distinctions. [Senior center] membership is open to all New Yorkers ages 60 and older. [They] serve meals, and in-person and virtual activities are designed to meet the needs of their members.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSADC\u2019s serve adults with functional impairments and need a higher level of care than [senior centers] can provide.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier this year, The Post visited over a dozen SADCs and found a mix of happy, healthy seniors enjoying light entertainment and near-empty facilities claiming they served hundreds of patients a day. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n The bustling and vibrant immigrant enclave of Flushing, Queens, has 77 taxpayer-funded social adult daycare centers that have billed $733 million from Medicaid from 2018-2024.<\/p>\n However, that was not the case for dozens of SADCs visited by The Post earlier this year, where the facilities were indistinguishable from city-run senior centers, which are not a part of Medicaid.<\/p>\n Healthy, active seniors played ping-pong and mahjong, rode stationary bikes, and got lunch delivered from local restaurants \u2014 all on the taxpayers\u2019 dime.<\/p>\n SADC workers, patients and even local politicians who spoke to The Post were unaware of the difference between senior centers and daycares.<\/p>\n \u201cYou come to Flushing, you cannot help but see a preponderance of older residents, older Asian residents. And with that concentration, for there to be only one\u00a0senior center in downtown Flushing, that speaks to the lack of resources,\u201d New York State Sen. Jon Liu told The Post. Matthew McDermott<\/p>\n Centers for Medicaid and Medicare (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz told The Post, \u201cDue to a lack of proper state oversight, these centers have become cash cows for criminal syndicates, who use kickbacks and other illegal practices to steal millions from Medicaid.\u201d via REUTERS<\/p>\n New York State Sen. John Liu, who represents Flushing, blamed a lack of city facilities in the district.<\/p>\n \u201cYou come to Flushing, you cannot help but see a preponderance of older residents, older Asian residents. And with that concentration, for there to be only one\u00a0senior center in downtown Flushing, that speaks to the lack of resources, which\u00a0perhaps all these centers have sprung up in order to fill the void of,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cI think it would be misguided to paint all of these centers with the same brush and to paint Flushing as the epicenter of\u00a0this kind of fraud, if it exists.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz blasted New York officials for allowing fraud to fester, where the state\u2019s $115 billion a year Medicaid spend is by far the highest per-person in the nation.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to a lack of proper state oversight, these centers have become cash cows for criminal syndicates, who use kickbacks and other illegal practices to steal millions from Medicaid. When Flushing, Queens, alone accounts for roughly 14% of all social adult daycare spending in New York state, it\u2019s pretty obvious that these centers aren\u2019t popping up solely to fulfill a legitimate need in the community,\u201d he told The Post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The vibrant, east Asian immigrant enclave of Flushing may be New York\u2019s medical fraud capital. 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