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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Note:

DON Lands 8-Year Jail Term In Texas Fraud Scheme

Published on Thu May 31, 2012

In Houston, a $5.2 million Medicare fraud scheme has landed a former director of nursing with a more-than-eight-year prison sentence. Ezinne Ubani, the former DON at Family Health-care Group in Houston, was sentenced in federal court to 97 months in prison, followed by three years supervised release. Ubani was also ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution jointly with her codefendants, according to a Department of Justice release. Ubani was convicted in a May 2011 trial and is the seventh defendant sentenced in connection with the scheme.Ubani, an RN and the wife of one of the HHA's former co-owners, falsified documents to support claims for medically unnecessary services and services never provided, prosecutors say. In the scheme, Family Healthcare paid recruiters for beneficiaries and others for bogus plans of care and certifications.
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