Home Health & Hospice Week

Three more guilty pleas entered in Novus case.

Nine defendants are on track for a trial next year in the notorious Novus Health case, following three more guilty pleas.

Director of Nursing Patricia Armstrong, marketing director Slade Brown, and co-founder and VP of marketing Samuel Anderson are the fifth, sixth, and seventh defendants to plead guilty in the case against Novus, in which the feds allege Novus CEO Bradley Harris directed hospice nurses to speed up the death of elderly patients by administering certain drugs (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXVI, No. 9). Armstrong entered her plea Nov. 2, and Brown and Anderson entered theirs Nov. 27, reports the Dallas Morning News.

Among other misdeeds, Armstrong admits to falsifying documentation, recruiting ineligible patients for bonuses, and being aware of patients’ overmedication, the newspaper says. Armstrong is cooperating in the investigation.

Anderson and others recruited doctors to refer patients in exchange for sham medical director payments, and paid certified nursing assistants to work at assisted living facilities in exchange for referrals, according to court documents. He is expected to testify in future trials, the News says.

The other 9 defendants in the case will face trial next year, unless more guilty pleas come in.

Also in Dallas: A federal judge sentenced two physicians and three nurses after two were convicted of Medicare home health fraud in a five-day trial and the others pleaded guilty, according to the Department of Justice. In the scheme, physician Kelly Robinett, former co-owner at Boomer House Calls, falsely certified patients he had never seen for home care. Timely Home Health Services Inc. then billed for home care services that were medically unnecessary or never provided. RN Joy Ogwuegbu, Timely’s director of nursing, falsified nursing assessments and Kingsley Nwanguma, an LVN for Timely, falsified nursing notes.

Timely co-owner and LVN Patience Okoroji received 10 years in prison; Robinett, Ogwuegbu, and Nwanguma received three-and-a-half years each; and physician Angel Claudio received six months, the DOJ says. Timely co-owner and RN Usani Ewah and Boomer co-owner and PA Shawn Chamberlain await sentencing after submitting guilty pleas. Timely billed more than $11.3 million in the scheme, and Boomer billed more than $1.6 million for medically unnecessary home health certifications and services and physician home visits, according to Justice.

In Detroit: Two home health agency owners have received six- and 10-year prison sentences, respectively, after pleading guilty to Medicare home health fraud. Hafiz Tahir was also sentenced to $9.7 million in restitution and Tasneem Tahir to $4.5 million, the DOJ says in a release. And the judge entered money judgments against Hafiz Tahir for $5.6 million and against Tasneem Tahir for $2.6 million, as well as ordering them to forfeit to the government their interest in $226,000 located in a Lebanese bank, two pieces of real property and cash in lieu of two vehicles. The Tahirs pleaded guilty to paying kickbacks in exchange for referrals and billing for home health services never provided. Two co-defendants in the scheme, Emma King and Antonio Kho, have also pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Co-defendant Hoda Sabbagh, aka Donna Hamadani, is a fugitive.

Also in Detroit: A jury has convicted a home health patient recruiter of taking kickbacks in a $1.1 million Medicare fraud scheme. Sophia Eggleston solicited and received kickbacks in exchange for referring Medicare beneficiaries to a home health agency owned by her co-conspirators, prosecutors proved in a three-day trial, the DOJ says in a release. Eggleston is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 6, 2019.