Janesville nurse suspended for six months
MADISON — A Janesville nurse has been suspended for six months for reporting home health care visits she did not make.
The Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing on Friday announced Nicole Savage-Burkheimer will be suspended from working as a registered nurse for six months.
A news release from the regulation department states Savage-Burkheimer reported 12 home visits she didn’t make to nine different patients in June 2007 while she was working for Home Health United, Janesville.
In one case, Savage-Burkheimer made phone calls to a patient but logged the calls as home visits.
With the other patients, Savage-Burkheimer logged visits she didn’t make.
In all cases, she logged vital signs in the patient’s records from a previous visit and failed to tell the patient’s physicians that the home visits did not take place.
Home Health United billed the falsified visits to Medicare, the news release states.
The board of nursing has ordered Savage-Burkheimer to take at least 12 hours of continuing education by the end of April. She is prohibited from working for any nursing agency or providing home-health nursing care in that time.
When Savage-Burkheimer does resume practice, she must notify her employer of the nursing board’s order. She also must have her employer file quarterly work reports with department of regulation for at least one year. The reports must describe her duties, responsibilities and performance.
The nursing board also fined Savage-Burkheimer $875 to cover the cost of the proceedings.
She agreed to the order, the news release states.
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