Home Health and Hospice

December 15, 2016

Raciel Leon, manager of Mercy Home Care Inc. and a billing employee for D&D&D Home Health Care Inc. was convicted for his role in a $2.5 million Medicare fraud scheme. According to evidence presented at trial, Leon and his co-conspirators used the companies to submit false claims to Medicare that were based on services that were not medically necessary, not actually provided and for patients that were procured through the payment of illegal kickbacks to doctors and patient recruiters.  DOJ

December 2, 2016

Vitas Health Corporation Midwest and related entities agreed to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying Dr. Farid Fata for patient referrals to its hospice care services.  In an earlier unrelated criminal matter, Fata pleaded guilty to health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks and promotional money laundering, and was sentenced to a term of 45 years in prison.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Rita Dubois who worked at Vitas as the Director of Market Development in Southeastern Michigan.  Dubois will receive a whistleblower award of $36,000 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (EDMI)

November 7, 2016

Badar Ahmadani, co-owner of Detroit home health care company Hands on Healing Home Care Inc., was sentenced to 96 months in prison and to pay roughly $38 million in restitution for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that caused approximately $33 million in losses.  According to evidence presented at trial, Ahmadani and his co-conspirators obtained patients by paying cash kickbacks to recruiters, who in turn paid cash to patients to induce them to sign up for home health care with companies owned by co-defendant Zafar Mehmood: Access Care Home Care Inc., Patient Care Home Care Inc., Hands On Healing Home Care Inc. and All State Home Care Inc.  The evidence also showed that Mehmood and Ahmadani paid kickbacks to physicians to refer patients to the companies for home health care services that were medically unnecessary and/or not provided.  Mehmood was previously sentenced to 360 months in prison and to pay roughly $40.5 million in restitution.  DOJ

October 25, 2016

Kansas City-based Best Choice Home Health Care Agency Inc. and its owner Reginald King agreed to pay $1.8 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks for the referral of Medicaid-covered patients for home and community-based healthcare services.  According to the government, King paid kickbacks to patient transporter Christopher Thomas for referrals to Best Choice.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by Thomas under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Thomas will receive a whistleblower reward of $43,178, which represents 10 percent of the federal share of the settlement minus the amount he received in kickbacks.  DOJ

November 4, 2016

New Jersey announced that the owner of an in-home senior care company in Atlantic County was sentenced to state prison for engaging in a scheme with her sister and a lawyer to steal millions of dollars from their elderly clients. Jan Van Holt, 60, of Linwood, former owner of “A Better Choice,” a firm that offered elderly clients in-home care and legal financial planning, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison, including 5 ½ years of parole ineligibility. Van Holt and Steen conspired with Barbara Lieberman, 64, of Northfield, a lawyer who specialized in elder law, to steal over $2.7 million from 12 elderly clients from 2003 through 2012. NJ

September 26, 2016

Modern Healthcare writes on Constantine Cannon whistleblower case against Visiting Nurse Service of New York.  Click here for article.

September 24, 2016

New York Times writes on Constantine Cannon whistleblower case against Visiting Nurse Service of New York.  Click here for article.

September 23, 2016

New York Times writes on Constantine Cannon whistleblower case against Visiting Nurse Service of New York.  Click here for article.

September 14, 2016

Romy Macasaet and his Illinois-based home health care company Home Bound Healthcare, Inc. agreed to plead guilty and pay $6.8 million to resolve charges of violating the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying kickbacks to medical directors to obtain referrals of Medicare beneficiaries to his company, which was one of the largest home health care and hospice companies in Illinois.  Macasaet acknowledged that he retained and paid medical directors a monthly fee solely for the purpose of obtaining patient referrals and not for medical services, and that he used medical director agreements to conceal the payment of kickbacks.  As part of the settlement, Macasaet agreed to divest his ownership interest in Home Bound.  DOJ (NDIL)

August 15, 2016

Miami resident Ramon Collado Gonzalez pleaded guilty to participating in a $4.2 million home health care fraud scheme.  As part of his guilty plea, Gonzalez admitted being recruited by Mildrey Gonzalez and Milka Alfaro, the owners of Miami health care agency Golden Home Health Care Inc., to falsely represent himself to be Golden’s owner so they could improperly obtain funds from Medicare.  DOJ