Home Health & Hospice Week

Kickbacks to patient recruiters feature in latest fraud cases.

Just as home care providers are seeking relief from rebasing cuts from Congress, fraudsters are making that task more difficult with sensational convictions and guilty pleas.

In Miami: A home health agency administrator who pled guilty to kickback charges has received a five-year prison sentence. Myriam Acevedo, an administrator of LTC Professional Consultants Inc. and an employee of Professional Home Care Solutions Inc., and her co-conspirators billed Medicare for services that were not medically necessary or were never provided, the Department of Justice says in a release.

As part of a $74 million fraud scheme, Acevado paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters of LTC and Professional. From 2007 to 2012, "Acevedo and others would distribute cash to patient recruiters in exchange for providing patients to LTC and Professional, as well as prescriptions, plans of care (POCs) and certifications for medically unnecessary therapy and home health services for Medicare beneficiaries," the DOJ alleges.

In Detroit: An HHA owner received a five-year and five-month prison sentence for Medicare fraud after an April 2013 conviction, and she must pay $2.2 million in restitution. Mehran Javidan paid kickbacks in exchange for referrals of patients to Acure Home Care Inc. and made false statements to investigators, among other things, the DOJ says in a release.

"Javidan paid doctors to refer non-homebound patients for physical therapy treatment that was medically unnecessary," the DOJ says. "She also paid patient recruiters to obtain Medicare information and pre-signed physical therapy documents from Medicare beneficiaries. The recruiters for Acure obtained the Medicare information and pre-signed forms by paying patients in cash and by promising that the referring doctors would prescribe them narcotic prescriptions."

Also in Detroit: HHA owner Javed Rehman was sentenced to five years in prison and $1.7 million in restitution after pleading guilty to Medicare fraud. As co-owner of Quantum Home Care Inc. with co-conspirators Tausif Rahman and Muhammad Ahmad, Rehman paid kickbacks to recruiters to obtain Medicare beneficiary information used to bill Medicare for services never rendered, the DOJ says in a release. Rahman and Ahmad also owned three other HHAs, and the four agencies received nearly $14 million from Medicare in the scheme.

In Illinois: Rick E. Brown, co-owner of home visiting physician practice Medicall Physicians Group Ltd. in Schaumburg, Ill., has been arrested in connection with an indictment charging three Chicago-area residents for their roles in an alleged $12 million Medicare fraud scheme, the DOJ says in a release. Brown, co-owner Roger Lucero, and biller Mary Talaga submitted claims to Medicare for services never rendered or with bogus documentation, prosecutors say.