Home Health & Hospice Week

Story #1: Don't assume you'll be safe from fraud charges and punishment, just because you aren't the brains behind a Medicare fraud scheme. Eight Miami-area nurses are the latest defendants to receive jail time for their part in a fraud scheme run at ABC Home Health and Florida Home Health Care Providers.

The nurses, who received sentences ranging from five to 30 months plus fines, worked for one or both of the agencies. The nurses "falsified patient files for Medicare beneficiaries to make it appear that the beneficiaries qualified for services fromFlorida Home Health or ABC that were prescribed by" physician Jorge Dieppa. Dieppa is awaiting trial on related fraud charges, says a release from the Department of Justice. "In fact, the defendants knew that the services were not medically necessary and/or were not rendered."

The nurses are Diana Sanabia, Daisy Santos, Roberto Rodriguez, Marlene Magadan, Maria Perez, Alberto Alvarez, Yanisley Chao, and·Leonardo Malagon. "Sanabia and Santos also recruited Medicare beneficiaries for the agencies and received kickbacks for the recruitments," prosecutors charge. "Sanabia and Santos knew that the beneficiaries they recruited did not qualify for the home health services."

The nurses are responsible for more than $18 million in false Medicare claims, the DOJ says.

Story #2: Two owners of Houston home health agency Family Healthcare Group pled guilty to a $5.2 million Medicare fraud scheme, according to a separate DOJ release. Clifford Ubani and Princewill Njoku paid kickbacks to beneficiary recruiters and billed for skilled nursing services that weren't medically necessary or weren't provided.

Ubana and Njoku previously pled guilty to a durable medical equipment-related Medicare fraud scheme. The defendants face sentencing in July, the DOJ says.