Home Health and Hospice

August 18, 2017

Godwin Oriakhi, the owner of five Houston-area home health agencies, was sentenced to 480 months in prison for conspiring to defraud Medicare and the State of Texas’ Medicaid-funded Home and Community-Based Service (HCBS) and Primary Home Care (PHC) Programs of more than $17 million.  The HCBS and PHC Programs provided qualified individuals with in-home attendant and community-based services that are known commonly as “provider attendant services.” (PAS).  This case marks the largest PAS fraud case charged in Texas history. DOJ

August 11, 2017

Marie Neba, the owner and director of nursing of Houston home health agency Fiango Home Healthcare Inc., was sentenced today to 75 years in prison for her role in a $13 million Medicare fraud scheme involving the payment of illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters for referring Medicare beneficiaries to Fiango for home health services. DOJ

July 21, 2017

Baton Rouge-based home healthcare company Charter Home Health agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by paying for patient referrals.  DOJ (MDLA)

July 17, 2017

Ohio-based nursing home operators Foundations Health Solutions Inc., Olympia Therapy Inc. and Tridia Hospice Care Inc., and their executives Brian Colleran and Daniel Parker, agreed to pay roughly $19.5 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by submitting to Medicare claims for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services and for hospice services to patients not eligible for the Medicare benefit, and by soliciting and receiving kickbacks to refer patients from their skilled nursing facilities to home health care provider Amber Home Care LLC.  The allegations originated in two whistleblower lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former Olympia employee Vladimir Trakhter and former Tridia employees Paula Bourne and La’Tasha Goodwin.  Mr. Trahkter will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $2.9 million and Ms. Bourne and Ms. Goodwin collectively will receive an award of roughly $740,000, all from the proceeds of the government’s recovery.  Whistleblower Insider

July 6, 2017

New Jersey-based Compassionate Care Hospice Group, Inc. agreed to pay $2.4 million to resolve charges that the company and its subsidiary Compassionate Care Hospice of Atlanta violated the False Claims Act and Stark Law by engaging in improper financial relationships with contracted physicians to induce them to refer patients.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former CCH Atlanta employees Cathy Morris and Josie King.  They will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (NDGA)

July 6, 2017

Matthew Kolodesh, Alex Pugman, Svetlana Ganetsky, and Malvina Yakobashvili agreed to pay millions of dollars to settle False Claims Act allegations that they and their now-defunct company Home Care Hospice, Inc. falsely billed for hospice services that were either unnecessary or never provided.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former HCH employees Maureen Fox and Cathy Gonzales.  They will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (EDPA)