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February 19, 2021

Antonio Olivera, a hospice administrator in Southern California, has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $2.2 million in restitution for his role in a multimillion dollar fraud scheme that ran from 2011 to 2018.  Together with three co-conspirators, Olivera paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters for referrals of Medicare beneficiaries to the hospice, Mhiramarc Management LLC.  When Mhiramarc staffers realized the referrals did not qualify for hospice, Olivera overruled them and caused the referrals to be put on hospice, ultimately causing Medicare to pay over $17 million in false claims.  DOJ

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Criminal Proceedings, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Home Health and Hospice, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicare,

February 4, 2021

Durable medical equipment company Regency, Inc., has agreed to a $20.3 million civil settlement to resolve allegations that, together with its principal Kelly Wolfe, it violated the False Claims Act by creating dozens of front companies to submit over $400 million in false claims to government healthcare programs for the sale of DME that was not medically necessary.  Defendants were alleged to have paid unlawful kickbacks to doctors and falsely claimed that those doctors provided telehealth services to the beneficiaries, when in most cases the doctors had no interaction at all with the beneficiaries.  Wolfe also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and will be sentenced at a later date.  Former Regency employee Condra Albright will receive 23% of the civil recovery as a whistleblower reward.  DOJ; USAO MD FL

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Criminal Proceedings, FCA Federal, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medical Billing Fraud, Medical Devices and DME, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

February 3, 2021

The former CEO of Texas hospice and home health chain the Merida Group, Henry McInnis, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison following his conviction for healthcare fraud and alleged charges.  McInnis and his co-conspirator Rondey Mesquias, who was previously sentenced to 20 years in prison, submitted over $150 million in fraudulent Medicare bills between 2009 and 2018 by falsifying medical records and telling thousands of patients with long-term incurable diseases they had less than six months to live in order to enroll the patients in hospice programs for which they were otherwise unqualified.  In addition, McInnis directed Merida’s practice of paying physicians bogus “medical director” fees in exchange for those doctors falsely certifying unqualified patients for hospice and home health, as well as paying improper kickbacks to patient recruiters.  DOJ

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Criminal Proceedings, Healthcare Fraud, Home Health and Hospice, Lack of Medical Necessity,

February 2, 2021

The owner of Mississippi-based Medworx Compounding and Custom Care Pharmacy, Marco Bisa Hawkins Moran, has been sentenced to ten years in prison and ordered to pay $34.3 million in fines and restitution following his guilty plea on charges related to a conspiracy to defraud TRICARE and other healthcare programs.  As part of the scheme, which resulted in the submission of $22.1 million in fraudulent claims, Moran and his co-conspirators adjusted prescription formulas to ensure the highest reimbursement, paid marketers and physicians kickbacks and bribes to obtain prescriptions for high-yield compounded medications without regard to medical necessity, and routinely waived and/or reduced the collection of copayments. USAO SD MS

Tagged in: Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, Criminal Proceedings, Lack of Medical Necessity, Pharma Fraud,

January 22, 2021

The estate of Dr. Patrick T. Hunter has agreed to pay more than $1.7 million to resolve allegations that the urologist, who passed away in 2019, submitted false claims to Medicare and TRICARE for medically unnecessary procedures and received improper payments for them from the Orlando Center for Outpatient Surgery.  Between 2010 and 2016, Dr. Hunter allegedly performed the lithotripsy procedures, which break up kidney stones, on patients who either did not have kidney stones or were not medically indicated for them.  For initiating the successful qui tam suit, whistleblower Scott Thompson will receive a relator’s share of $385,000.  USAO MDFL

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

December 21, 2020

DME provider Apria Healthcare Group, Inc. and Apria Healthcare LLC will pay $40.5 million to settle allegations brought in a qui tam action filed by three former Apria employees that they improperly billed government healthcare programs for beneficiary rentals of non-invasive ventilators (“NIVs”) that were not medically necessary or which were provided with improper waivers of patient co-payments.  Medicare pays as much as $1,400 a month for NIVs, and providers are required to monitor patient usage of NIVs and stop billing when the NIVs are no longer being used.  Apria respiratory therapists failed to monitor patient NIV usage and even when Apria knew that patients were no longer using the NIVs, Apria often did not take steps to stop seeking payment.  In addition, Apria sales staff steered doctors and beneficiaries to use NIVs when less-expensive alternatives were available, and routinely waived co-payments for NIV patients without making an assessment of the patient’s financial need.  USAO SDNY; CA AG; FL AG

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Medical Devices and DME, Whistleblower Case,

December 21, 2020

Substance abuse treatment provider A.R.E.B.A.-CASRIEL, Inc. d/b/a Addiction Care Interventions Chemical Dependency Treatment Centers (“ACI”) and its owner, Steven Yohay, agreed to pay a total of $6 million to resolve federal and New York state claims that they defrauded Medicaid including through the payment of kickbacks and other fraudulent conduct in connection with the enrollment of Medicaid beneficiaries into ACI’s inpatient treatment program.  Defendants allegedly employed drivers who were compensated in part based on the number of patients they recruited, to target homeless individuals to enroll in ACI’s inpatient treatment program by offering food, cash, and money to purchase drugs, and/or alcohol. In addition, ACI unlawfully paid a patient recruiter, and enrolled Medicaid patients who had not been evaluated by a qualified healthcare professional, including by copying a physician’s signature.  The government’s investigation was initiated by a whistleblower complaint filed by a former employee, who will receive an undisclosed amount of the settlement.  USAO SDNY; NY

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, FCA State, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

December 16, 2020

Texas resident Rodney Mesquias, the former owner and officer of hospice services provider Merida Group, was sentenced to 20 years in prison following his conviction on fraud charges.  According to the evidence at trial, Mesquias falsely told thousands of individuals and their families that they had less than six months to live, so that he could enroll them in hospice programs, denying them from accessing curative care.  Mesquias also paid kickbacks to physicians for referring patients with long-term diseases such as Alzheimers and dementia.  Over  nearly ten years, Mesquias’ scheme resulted in the submission of $150 million in false and fraudulent claims for medically unnecessary services.  DOJ

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Healthcare Fraud, Home Health and Hospice, Lack of Medical Necessity,

November 24, 2020

Florida-based Doctor’s Choice Home Care, Inc. and its founders and former top executives Timothy Beach and Stuart Christensen have agreed to pay a combined $5.15 million to settle qui tam suits filed under the False Claims Act by former employees—one by Corina Herbold, and the other by Sara Billings, Misty Sykes, and Marina Eschoyez-Quiroga.  In violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law, the home health agency had allegedly set up sham medical director agreements with physicians to pay them for referrals, linked employee bonuses to referrals made by physician spouses, and provided medically unnecessary services to Medicare patients in order to avoid decreased reimbursements triggered by fewer than five skilled service visits.  To settle the allegations, Doctor’s Choice will pay over $4.5 million, while Beach and Christensen will pay $647,000 each.  Billings, Sykes, and Eschoyez-Quiroga will jointly receive $145,000 of the settlement proceeds; Herbold’s share has yet to be determined.  DOJ; USAO MDFL

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

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