Home Health and Hospice

September 8, 2021

Bayada Home Health Care, Inc. and related entities agreed to pay $17 million to resolve allegations of paying unlawful kickbacks that were initiated by a whistleblower action under the False Claims Act.  The government alleged that Bayada purchased two home health care agencies from a company that owned retirement communities in order to induce referrals from the seller to Bayada.  The whistleblower, David Freedman, was the director of strategic growth for Bayada; he will receive more than $3 million as a whistleblower reward.  DOJ; USAO NJ

September 7, 2021

The founder of Agape Healthcare Systems, Inc., Timothy Mark Harron, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $4.3 million in restitution following his guilty plea on healthcare fraud charges.  Harron and his wife, Latisha Harron, scoured obituaries for recently deceased Medicaid recipients and billed Medicaid for up to a year of home health services that were allegedly provided to the deceased by Agape.  Latisha Harron was previously sentenced to 14 years in prison.  NC

May 19, 2021

Latisha Harron of North Carolina has been sentenced to over 14 years in prison and ordered to pay over $13 million in restitution after pleading guilty to charges of defrauding the North Carolina Medicaid Program, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering.  Together with husband Timothy Harron, the defendant scoured obituaries for recently deceased Medicaid recipients and billed Medicaid for up to a year of home health services that were allegedly provided to the deceased by her company, Agape Healthcare Services, Inc.  By concealing the fact that both Harrons were previously convicted felons, the defendant was able to obtain millions in reimbursements, which she then laundered into expenses such as business properties, a private jet, clothing and jewelry, and gym equipment.  NC AG; Subsequent proceeding

May 4, 2021

Alberto Orian Gonzalez-Delgado was sentenced to 210 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud.  He is the last of eight individuals to be sentenced for a money laundering scheme in Florida and Michigan involving the use of nominee owners to fraudulently purchase home health agencies and then bill Medicare for services that were never provided to Medicare beneficiaries.  The defendants caused the payment of approximately $53 million in fraudulent claims.  DOJ

May 4, 2021

After being convicted of running a $11 million healthcare fraud scheme, Brenda Rodriguez, the owner and operator of Texas-based QC Medical Clinic, has been ordered to spend 25 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release.  As shown by evidence presented at trial, Rodriguez’s scheme involved paying doctors to approve Medicare beneficiaries for home health services, selling the approvals to various home health providers, and causing the providers to bill Medicare for services that were medically unnecessary, never provided, and/or arose from illegal inducements.  USAO SDTX

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