Home Health & Hospice Week

DOJ heralds another Health Care Fraud Strike Force victory.

After being convicted of Medicare home health fraud, a Michigan agency owner is paying a big price.

Last September, a federal jury convicted Yogesh Pancholi, owner of Shring Home Care Inc. in Livonia, on fraud, money laundering, and related charges, the Department of Justice says in a release. Pancholi purchased Shring using the names, signatures, and personal identifying information of others to conceal his ownership.

In a two-month period, Pancholi and his co-conspirators billed and were paid nearly $2.8 million by Medicare for services that were never provided. Pancholi then transferred these funds through shell corporations into his accounts in India.

“After being indicted, and on the eve of trial, Pancholi, using a pseudonym, wrote false and malicious emails to various federal government agencies alleging a government witness had committed various crimes and should not be allowed to remain in the United States in an attempt to keep the witness from testifying,” the DOJ adds. Pancholi is scheduled for sentencing in January.

The DOJ’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $27 billion, the agency says.