Home Health & Hospice Week

A Houston-area physician has paid $450,000 to settle allegations that he falsely signed home health certifications and plans of care in exchange for money, the Department of Justice says in a release. Circuit Wide Healthcare Inc. owner Egondu “Kate” Koko admitted she paid illegal kickbacks to physicians like Maaz Abbasi for bogus paperwork.

Circuit Wide paid Abbasi about $6,200 in exchange for signing fraudulent Medicare home health certifications and plans of care from 2015 to 2018, the DOJ says. Abbasi also fraudulently signed a fellow physician’s name on the certs and POCs without that physician’s authorization, permission or knowledge.