Strategies in Mitigating Medicare/Medicaid Fraud Risk

In the fiscal year 2014, approximately 1,337 health care providers lost their provider license to Medicare/Medicaid fraud. Out of the 1,318 criminal convictions reported by the U.S. Medicaid Fraud Control Units (MFCU), 395 (30%) were home health care aides who claimed to have rendered services not provided. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore licensed and certified home health care business managers\u27 strategies to mitigate Medicare/Medicaid fraud risk. A purposive sampling of 9 business managers and chief executive officers from 3 licensed and certified home health care businesses in Franklin County, Ohio participated in semistructured face-to-face interviews. Data from the interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed to identify themes regarding Medicare/Medicaid fraud risk management strategies. Drawing from the Committee of Sponsoring Organization\u27s internal control framework and fraud management lifecycle theory, 5 themes emerged: the control environment, risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring activities. Findings from this study included maintenance of integrity and culture, training and educating both staff and clients about fraud reporting processes and the consequences of fraud, rotating staff on a regular basis, performing fraud risk assessments, implementing remote timekeeping and monitoring system, and compensating shift leaders to coordinate activities in the clients\u27 residences. The implication for positive social change includes reducing healthcare cost for all taxpayers through Medicare/Medicaid fraud reduction

Vowel raising in Akan reduplication

This paper examines vowel raising in reduplication in Akan, a Niger- Congo (Kwa) language, focusing on the Asante-Twi dialect. It has been generally observed in Akan that in reduplicating CV stems, the stem [+low] vowels are pre-specified with [+high] the reduplicant (RED). However, it has been claimed that raising to the mid vowel in disyllabic REDs is idiosyncratic to the Fante dialect. I show that the phenomenon is attested in Asante and that stem CV1V2, where V2 is [+low], raises to a corresponding [-high, -low] vowel in the RED, and not [+high]. I account for this within the Optimality Theory framework

FINAL-NASAL DELETION IN AKAN (ASANTE TWI) REDUPLICATION

In this paper, I examine the phenomenon of reduplicant-nasal deletion observed in some reduplicative prefixes of Akan (a Niger-Congo, Kwa language). In the Akan phonology, nasals are among non-vowel sonorants that are permitted syllable or word-finally (Dolphyne 1988, Abakah 2005). However, it is observed that these nasals, particularly [m], are sometimes deleted in some reduplicants final position. In this paper, I show that verb bases of CVN or CVVN structures are of two different morphemic structures in the underlying representation; monomorphemic verb base and bimorphemic verb base. The latter structure, on which this paper focuses, has the composition: morpheme1 + morpheme2. It is observed that while the former preserve their ‘final’ nasals in the reduplicants, the latter lose them in their reduplicants.  We analyse this phonological phenomenon as resulting from the language’s desire to satisfy a high-ranking template satisfaction constraint (after McCarthy and Prince 1994a) within the Optimality Theory framework. Keywords: Nasal deletion, Akan, reduplication, Optimality Theory, phonology

Some Phonological Processes in an Akan Linguistic Game

This paper examines some phonological processes observed in the Pig Latin; a linguistic game played in Akan, a Niger-Congo (Kwa) language. The Akan Pig Latin (henceforth APL), which is popularly known as Megesege is usually played among Akan youth. The purpose of this game varies from concealment to social identity establishment. This paper is a qualitative study of 200 stimuli of sentences in regular Akan constructions manipulated into the APL. The simple rule for playing the game is to syllabify an already existing word and to add a [CV] syllable to each of those segmented syllables. Through this manipulation of existing word, several phonological processes are observed including insertion, syllabification, palatalization etc. The paper presents a descriptive analysis of some of the processes and shows how the study of the APL can facilitate our understanding of the several phonological phenomena in Akan, even though it may display, in many parts, quite different patterns from what obtains in the regular Akan grammar

Truncation of some akan personal names

This paper examines some morphophonological processes in Akan personal names with focus on the former process. The morphological processes of truncation of some indigenous personal names identified among the Akan (Asante) ethnic group of Ghana are discussed. The paper critically looks at some of these postlexical morpheme boundary processes in some Akan personal names realized in the truncated form when two personal names interact. In naming a child in a typical Akan, specifically in Asante‟s custom, a family name is given to the child in addition to his/her „God-given‟ name or day-name. We observe truncation and some phonological processes such as vowel harmony, compensatory lengthening, etc. at the morpheme boundaries in casual speech context. These morphophonological processes would be analyzed within the Optimality Theory framework where it would be claimed that there is templatic constraint that demands that the base surname minimally surfaces as disyllable irrespective of the syllable size of the base surname. The relatively high ranking of this minimality constraint, we claim in this paper, forces the application of the compensatory lengthening rule to ensure satisfaction of that constraint in the truncated forms

Morphophonological Analysis of Akan Female Family-Name Formation

This paper examines the morphophonological processes in the derivation of some female family-names in Akan, a Niger-Congo (Kwa) language through the addition of a male source name and the female morpheme /-baa/. About three main kinds of family-names can be identified in Akan: (i) those usually given to females only, (ii) those gender-neutral, and (iii) those given to males but out of which female counterpart names can be derived. The current paper examines the third type and claims that even though different realizations of the female morpheme are observed, namely [-wa(a)], [-ma(a)], and [-a] to attach to the male source names, there is only one morpheme in the underlying presentation, that is, /-baa/, /-bea/, and /-ba/ for the Asante, Akuapem, and Fante dialects respectively, out of which these three variants are derived. This underlying morpheme manifests differently among the major dialects, which could be one of the points of distinction among them. To account for its different cross-dialectal realizations, it is shown in this paper that the underlying morpheme-initial consonant /-b/ specified for [+consonantal, +labial, −continuant] may acquire nasality at the surface level as in [-maa] through nasal place assimilation. The same consonant may lenite to labial glide [w] intervocalically and surfaces as [-waa]; or may even elide completely in the same context and be realized as [-a]; the underlying segment is systematically neutralized in the Asante dialect. In the Akuapem dialect, on the other hand, this underlying morpheme-initial segment is invariably fully preserved at the surface representation. The case of the Fante dialect resides in the middle of the continuum; i.e. it is non-systematic. The initial segment may or may not be preserved within the same contexts. Based on these observed variations it is concluded that while the other two dialects, especially the Akuapem, can preserve both the place and stricture features values of the underlying morpheme-initial /-b/ of the female morpheme, the Asante dialect only preserves the value for the former, and systematically neutralizes that of the latter. This observation is formalized within the Optimality Theory.

Verbal nominalization as a derivational process: The case of Akan

This paper discusses the derivational morphology of the Akan language with particular focus on verbal nominalization through affixation (particularly prefixation). There are two ways through which this nominalization process can be realized in the Asante-Twi dialect of Akan. These are direct verb stem/base nominalization and nominalization after reduplication. The main difference between the two nominalization processes is shown to be that while in the former process, the nominal prefixes adjoin the verb stem directly to derive nominals, in the latter process, the same prefixation process also applies but after the reduplication process. I first discuss direct verb nominalization through prefixation and follow it up with the discussion of the nominalization process that takes place after reduplication has applied. We observe that in the case of the latter process, sometimes the nominal prefix adjoins another prefix; the reduplicative prefix, as studied by Dolphyne (1988), McCarthy and Prince (1995), Abakah (2004), etc. therefore, giving us the morphological structure: Affix1 + Affix2 + Stem/Base. The paper argues that in the direct verbal nominalization, whereas nominal prefixation has to apply first before nominal suffixation in the Asante-Twi dialect so that the former forms a constituent with the stem/base, in the reduplicated stem, the Affix2 (i.e. the reduplicative prefix) has to adjoin first the stem/base before the Affix1, which is the nominal prefix. A swap in the order/level of prefixation between Affix1 and Affix2 renders the output form ill-formed, a case for Siegel’s ([1974] 1979) Level Ordering Hypothesis. Following Siegel (idem), the reduplicative prefix, which does not cause a change in lexical category in Akan, is treated as a Class/Level 2 Prefix while the nominal prefix, which changes the lexical category of the stem and/or the reduplicated form, is a Class/Level 1 affix. In the end, this paper proposes a common template structure to account for affixation in nominalization of verbs in Akan by conflating what looks like two similar morphological structures for both nominalization of stem/base verbs and reduplicated forms, as follows: Affix1 ± (Affix2) + Stem/Base ± (Affix3) in that order

Model for Training, Empowering, and Organizing Churches in the Mampong-west District for Shared Leadership in the Central Ghana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Problem. The Mampong-West District of Seventh-day Adventists in Central Ghana, West Africa, has a membership of over 1,943 with a minimum number of active lay members. There is a need to develop a training curriculum and create an organizational design for the district that will facilitate a shared leadership. Statement of the Task The task of the project is to develop a model for training, empowering, and organizing the churches in Mampong-West District for shared leadership that will equip and deploy members for effective leadership roles. Proposed Method. The project will use the Extension Movement in Theological Education (EMTE), the Logical Framework Matrix (LFM), and the Gantt Chart to present its strategy and activities schedule. The project will consist of four main activities or methods to be incorporated over a three-year period. The following topics will be presented: a) priesthood of all believers, b) biblical model of shared leadership, c) spiritual giftedness, and d) monitoring project outcomes. The foundation for the seminars will be based on shared leadership as seen in both the Old and New Testaments. Project Expectations. The training of the laity for the purpose of preparing them for a shared leadership would be expected to provide at least a 20-30 % increase in laity willing and ready to take leadership roles. The lay leaders will have identified their God-given talents and be willing to achieve their potential through working together for the development of the church. The ultimate goal of this project document would see an overall effective shared leadership that would result in both spiritual and numerical growth to the extent that other districts will see the need to adopt the project