Medical Billing Fraud

December 20, 2019

Florida residents and married couple Rodolfo Pichardo and Marta Pichardo were sentenced to 15 years and 8 years, respectively, following earlier guilty pleas to healthcare fraud and wire fraud.  Defendants were also ordered to pay over $34 million in restitution. The Pichardos ran a network of home health agencies, pharmacies, and therapy staffing companies, that submitted more than $38 million in false claims to Medicare.  Defendants paid kickbacks to patient recruiters and medical clinics for patient referrals.  USAO SD FL

December 19, 2019

Nassir Medical Corp., which does business as the Cancer Care Institute, and its owner, Dr. Youram Nassir, have agreed to pay $3.4 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare and Medicaid for oncology drugs that were not actually purchased, dispensed, or administered, and for infusion services that were not actually provided.  The case was initiated by whistleblower Kenneth Bryan, who will receive a whistleblower reward of $475,000 from the federal government.  USAO CD Cal

December 17, 2019

Miracle Home Care, Inc. and its owner, Shashicka Tyre-Hill, have together been ordered to pay more than $10 million following judgment in an action under the False Claims Act finding that defendants defrauded Georgia’s Medicaid program.  In a civil complaint filed in July 2018, the federal government and State of Georgia alleged that Miracle Home Care submitted thousands of fraudulent reimbursement claims for medically unnecessary transportation and health services.  USAO SDGA

December 10, 2019

Dr. Paul J. Mathieu and occupational therapist Lina Zhitnik have been sentenced to, respectively, 4 years and 1.2 years in prison, for their roles in a $30 million scheme to defraud Medicare and New York's Medicaid program.  Mathieu falsely posed as the owner of three medical clinics, which were actually owned by Aleksandr Burman, and Mathieu and Zhitnik falsely claimed to have treated thousands of patients at those clinics.  Over six years, Mathieu prepared or assisted in the preparation of false and fraudulent medical charts, issued referrals for expensive and unnecessary additional testing by providers also participating in the scheme, and wrote prescriptions for unnecessary medical supplies that were filled by a company also owned by Burman.  Another doctor participating in Burman's scheme, Ewald J. Antoine, was previously sentenced.  USAO SDNY

November 22, 2019

Ave Maria Family Practice PLLC and its principal, Dr. Dorothy Agbafe-Mosley, have agreed to pay $1.25 million to the State of North Carolina to resolve claims that they falsely billed the state's Medicaid program for addiction treatment services allegedly provided to Medicaid beneficiaries.  In fact, the services were not medically necessary, had no supporting clinical documentation, or were otherwise performed in violation of Medicaid policy.  NC

November 20, 2019

Louisville, Kentucky hospital Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s Healthcare Inc. has agreed to pay $10.1 million to resolve allegations that the hospital, doing business as Pharmacy Plus and Pharmacy Plus Specialty, submitted false claims to Medicare for prescription drugs that did not have the required physician order or proof of delivery, for prescription refills that were not reasonable and necessary, or for prescriptions that otherwise did not meet Medicare coverage requirements.  In addition, defendant was alleged to have violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by providing unlawful remuneration to patients in the form of free blood glucose testing supplies and waiver of co-payments and deductibles for insulin.  The case was initiated by a qui tam complaint filed by pharmacist Robert Stone, who will receive $1.85 million from the settlement.  DOJ

November 19, 2019

Clinical laboratory LabTox, LLC, will pay $2.1 million to resolve claims that it falsely billed Medicare and Kentucky's Medicaid program for qualitative urine drug screens as high complexity screens when, in fact, LabTox performed only low complexity testing, and wrongfully billed Medicare for un-covered specimen validity testing.  USAO ED KY

November 15, 2019

California healthcare system Sutter Health, its hospital the Sutter Memorial Center Sacramento, and the Sacramento Cardiovascular Surgeons Medical Group, Inc., will pay a total of $43.12 million to resolve allegations that the entities violated the Stark Law and improperly double-billed Medicare.  Specifically, Sutter Memorial will pay $30.5 million to resolve charges of wrongfully billing Medicare for services referred to the hospital by Sac Cardio, with whom the hospital maintained improper financial arrangements that overcompensated the Sac Cardio physicians.  In addition, Sutter will pay $15.12 million to resolve allegations that it paid physicians compensation at rates that exceeded fair market value, leased office space to them at below-market rates, and reimbursed them for expenses at inflated rates.  In addition to the Stark Law violations, the settlement also resolved allegations that Sac Cardio submitted duplicative bills for physician assistant services (Sac Cardio will pay $500,000 to resolve these claims), and allegations that several Sutter ambulatory surgical centers had double-billed Medicare for radiological services that had actually been provided, and billed for, by a separate entity.  DOJ reported that allegations against Sutter Memorial and Sac Cardio were first made in a qui tam lawsuit brought by Laurie Hanvey, who will receive $5.9 million from the settlement, and that Sutter Health self-disclosed other conduct at issue in the settlement. DOJ; USAO ED Cal; USAO ND Cal

November 14, 2019

Following a guilty plea in 2018, Sandra Haar was sentenced to five years in prison and has agreed to sell 13 properties, including former clinic properties, to resolve civil claims under the False Claims Act that she and the non-profit provider of health and dental services she ran, Horisons Unlimited, submitted fraudulent claims to Medi-Cal, including claims for services rendered by unlicensed providers, claims for services that were not rendered at all, and claims for unnecessary services. Haar was also alleged to have received thousands in kickbacks from a laboratory in exchange for sending Horisons patients to the lab. Haar will be excluded from Medicare participation for 20 years; the former Horisons CFO, Norman Haar, will be excluded for 15 years.  USAO ED Cal