Home Health & Hospice Week

A Michigan HHA owner and physician has been indicted in federal court on kickback charges. Babubhai Rathod and six others were charged in Grand Rapids, Mich., federal court, according to press reports. The indictment alleges that Rathod owned and operated HHAs, medical clinics, and outpatient rehabilitation facilities that paid employees and outside healthcare providers for the referral of patients, reports the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun newspaper. Rathod, Lakeshore Spine & Pain administrator Rajesh Makwana and U.S. Rehab Services manager Raju Nakum allegedly paid health care providers agreed-to rates for the referral of patients for home health care services, electrodiagnostic testing, and physical therapy, the indictment says, according to the Morning Sun. Physicians Lino S. Dial Jr., Niti Thakur, Andre Blair Smith and Muhammad Salman Rais, along with a physician's assistant, are identified in the indictment as referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to companies operated by Rathod in return for illegal [...]