(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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State won't release inspection records for home health agency • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
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Date: 2025-08-11
A state agency that denied having inspection records for a Cedar Rapids home health agency now admits it has the records but considers them confidential.
The records are related to Compassion North America, a home health agency whose practices came under scrutiny earlier this year after the Iowa Board of Nursing presented evidence of falsified records, billing for services that were never delivered, and the employment of an unlicensed nurse to provide patient care.
On July 9, the Iowa Capital Dispatch asked the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing for a copy of a private accreditation agency’s inspection report for Compassion North America.
In response to the Capital Dispatch’s request, DIAL spokesperson Diane McCool said DIAL “does not receive survey reports,” using DIAL’s terminology for inspectors’ reports, from accrediting organizations.
After the Capital Dispatch reported DIAL’s claim that it didn’t have the requested records, the Accreditation Commission for Health Care contacted the news organization and said that it had, in fact, provided DIAL with a copy of the documents via email on Sept. 16, 2024.
The Capital Dispatch asked DIAL again for the records, and also requested email communications between the accrediting organization and the state agency.
Last week, DIAL provided the Capital Dispatch with the Sept. 16, 2024, email. The email included no text other than the subject line, and DIAL refused to disclose the email’s attached accreditation report, stating that DIAL was not the “official” custodian of that particular document.
DIAL didn’t explain its initial assertion that it didn’t have the records, nor did it explain how it could be the custodian of an email but not the attachment to that email.
State: Home health agencies aren’t licensed
The Capital Dispatch had also asked DIAL how and when Compassion North America was first licensed by the state, noting that the state agency’s website indicated the company was first licensed in September 2024 — seven years after the company was formed.
In response, McCool said on July 8 that “Compassion North America became certified and licensed to provide medical home health services on Sept. 12, 2024.”
Later, however, DIAL removed that “initial licensing date” from its website. When asked why that happened, McCool said, “Since there is no license for any HHA (home health agency) in the state, we removed the license date. This is consistent with department practice.”
Her statement did not address her previous assertion that Compassion North America was certified and licensed last September.
Because DIAL has never conducted its own inspection of Compassion North America, and because it won’t release its copy of the accrediting commission’s findings, there is no public record of any regulatory oversight of the home health provider, which was first incorporated in June 2017.
No DIAL investigation of allegations
Last month, McCool said DIAL was not currently investigating Compassion North America, despite the findings of the Board of Nursing and its investigator that the company appeared to have falsified records, billed for services that were never delivered, and employed an unlicensed nurse to provide patient care.
Those allegations surfaced at a disciplinary hearing for registered nurse M’balu Madlene Kebbie, who is married to Compassion North America’s CEO, Joseph Lemor.
A state investigator who reviewed the work schedules of Compassion employees as part of a board investigation allegedly found that the license of one of the company’s nurses had expired in January 2021 but she had continued to provide patient care in June and July 2022.
In addition, a comparison of Compassion’s billing records with the staff work schedule allegedly showed the company had submitted payment claims for services for which there was no corresponding documentation to indicate the care was provided. There were also payment claims for services provided by a registered nurse that exceeded 24 hours in a single day, the state investigator testified.
According to the board, Kebbie had no explanation for the irregularities in the nursing documentation — including instances where it appeared Compassion had billed Medicaid twice for some services.
Citing what it called Kebbie’s “lack of previous disciplinary history,” the board ruled that she could retain her Iowa nursing license subject to two years of probation. However, the board’s own records indicate that in 2012, it disciplined Kebbie for working as a nurse while her license was inactive.
Kebbie’s attorney has filed an appeal of the board’s recent decision in Polk County District Court, arguing the sanctions against her are “unreasonable, arbitrary, and excessive.” The state has denied any wrongdoing in the matter.
Lemor has said the state is engaged in a “witch hunt” with regard to Kebbie. “We did not do anything improper,” he told the Iowa Capital Dispatch last month. “We have nothing to hide.”
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