Eli's Hospice Insider

A former hospice owner convicted of Medicare fraud has drawn a whopping 14.5-year prison sentence. He also was ordered to repay $16.2 million in restitution to Medicare and $16.2 million in a forfeiture money judgment.

Philadelphia-based Home Care Hospice Inc. billed Medicare more than $14 million for services that were medically unnecessary or never provided, the Department of Justice says in a release. HCH owner Matthew Kolodesh, aka Matvei Kolodech, was convicted of diverting $9.6 million from HCH’s operating account for his own personal use. He used the money for extensive renovations to his house, travel expenses, college tuition for his son, and — a common purchase for Medicare fraudsters — a luxury automobile, prosecutors said.

Kolodesh and his co-conspirator exchanged sham medical director, advisor, or hospice physician payments for referrals, DOJ says. Kolodesh also ordered a mass discharge of patients when the hospice hit its cap, and swapped patients to avoid the cap, among other transgressions, prosecutors argued.

“Nurses and other staff participated in a massive fraud that involved altering patient records to make patients appear eligible for hospice services, when in reality they were not,” the DOJ notes. “HCH even tricked Medicare auditors.”

Plus: The DOJ has filed a related False Claims Act suit against Kolodesh, his wife and sham HCH CEO Malvina Yakobashvili, Executive Director and owner Alex Pugman, and Pugman’s wife and HCH Development Executive Svetlana Ganetsky, the agency says in a release. The whistleblower lawsuit focuses on General Inpatient care.