Category: Curator

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A Texas doc stole $16M from Medicare with a kickback scheme involving multiple home health agencies and patients who agreed to say that got home health services that were never provided.

Clipped from: https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2020/11/19/harris-county-doctor-sentenced-in-16m-medicare-fraud-scheme-authorities-say/

A gavel (WDIV)

HOUSTON – A Texas physician was sentenced to five years in prison Wednesday for a $16 million Medicare fraud scheme, federal officials said.

Yolanda Hamilton, M.D., 57, of Harris County, the physician-owner and operator of HMS Health and Wellness Center, PLLC, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison of the Southern District of Texas.  Hamilton is ordered to pay $9.5 million in restitution.

Hamilton was convicted by a federal jury of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to solicit and receive health care kickbacks, and two counts of false statements relating to health care matters in October 2019.

Authorities said from January 2012 to August 2016, Hamilton conspired with others to defraud Medicare by signing false and fraudulent home health care paperwork that was used to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare, according to a news release about the sentencing.

Federal authorities said in a news release that Hamilton and her co-conspirators made it appear that the patients qualified and received home health care services, when they often did not.  Members of the conspiracy paid the patients to receive the home health care services, which were often medically unnecessary, not provided, or both, the news release said.  The evidence also showed that Hamilton required home health care agencies to pay an illegal kickback, which Hamilton disguised as a “co-pay,” in exchange for Hamilton certifying and recertifying patients for home healthcare services, according to the news release about the sentencing.

Hamilton typically would not release the home health care paperwork until the home health care companies or their marketers paid her the kickback, authorities said, citing evidence from the case.

Federal authorities said the scheme resulted in approximately millions in false and fraudulent claims for home-health services to Medicare and in Hamilton receiving over $300,000 in kickbacks.

To date, the Department of Justice said in its news release that several “co-conspirators” including marketers, patient recruiters along with doctors, and nurses who purchased plans of care and other signed medical documents from Hamilton have been charged, found guilty, or pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and, or, paying or receiving kickbacks.

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Massachusetts woman used an imaginary personal care assistant to bill for services provided to herself.

Clipped from: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/worcester-woman-arraigned-on-medicaid-fraud-charges/ar-BB1aFhON

© Stock image Court news

WORCESTER — A city woman was arraigned Tuesday in Worcester Superior Court Tuesday on charges she defrauded MassHealth of $37,000 by creating a fictional personal care assistant. 

Amy Sutherland, also known as Amy Petrucelli, was released on personal recognizance on charges of medical assistance fraud and larceny over $1,200, records show. 

According to court documents provided by the office of Attorney General Maura T. Healey, which is prosecuting Sutherland, the 48-year-old Worcester woman, from 2017 to 2019, submitted time sheets for PCA services provided to her by an Amy Petrucelli.

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Petrucelli was paid $37,000 over that time frame, the AG said, but does not actually exist. The AG alleges the two are the same person, with Petrucelli being Sutherland’s maiden name. 

Court documents indicate the fraud was discovered after Sutherland was pressed by a skills trainer and doctor for contact information and questions about care she purported to receive from Petrucelli. 

“Sutherland refused to provide any information and ultimately withdrew from the PCA program in August 2019,” the prosecution wrote. “Sutherland has since tried to reenter the PCA program but has refused to allow for a surrogate to manage her services.”

MassHealth’s PCA program allows members with long-term disabilities to hire PCAs to assist them with daily activities. The consumer and the customer are required to submit bi-weekly timesheets for the work. 

In addition to having the same birthday, Sutherland and Petrucelli have the same mailing address, the AG said. 

Sutherland was released by Judge David Ricciardone on the condition that she not leave the state, that she turn in her passport and notify probation if she requests PCA services, records show. 

Court records Tuesday did not list an attorney for Sutherland. She is due back in court Jan. 26. 

Sutherland is one of three local residents charged in October after a crackdown of fraud in the state’s PCA program. 

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester woman arraigned on Medicaid fraud charges

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NC fraudster stole $10M using obituaries to get info needed to back bill NC Medicaid using the online NC Medicaid eligibility tool.

Clipped from: https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/business-owner-who-orchestrated-13-million-fraud-upon-north-carolina-medicaid-program-from-las-vegas-pleads-guilty-forfeits-private-jet

Date: November 18, 2020

Contact:
newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Raleigh, NC — A Las Vegas, Nevada resident pleaded guilty today to Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, and Aggravated Identity Theft, and further agreed to forfeit the proceeds of her crimes. These proceeds included up to $13,396,921.64, a British Aerospace Bae 125-800A Aircraft, a 2017 Aston Martin DB 11 sports car; a 2016 Ford F-150 Super-Crew pickup truck; real property held in the name of Assured Healthcare Systems in Hertford County, North Carolina; real property located in Charles County, Maryland; as well as various other items of designer jewelry and luxury items seized from the defendant’s penthouse condominium in Las Vegas.

According to court documents, Latisha Harron, also known as Latisha Reese Holt, originally from Eastern North Carolina, admitted to conspiring with her husband to carry out a massive fraud upon the North Carolina Medicaid Program (“NC Medicaid”) by billing the government for fictitious home health services. Harron admitted to then working with her husband to launder the proceeds of the fraud into, among other things, a private jet, luxury jewelry and clothing, and properties in Ahoskie and Rich Square, North Carolina.

According to the charges, Harron created, and was operating, Agape Healthcare Systems, Inc. (“Agape”) an alleged Medicaid home health provider, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. As charged, to enroll Agape as a Medicaid provider, Harron fraudulently concealed her prior felony conviction for Identity Theft. In 2012, Harron moved out of North Carolina to Maryland. Despite that move, Harron continued to bill NC Medicaid as though Agape was providing home health services to North Carolina recipients.

As charged, in May of 2017, Latisha Harron moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to live with codefendant Timothy Mark Harron, and that the two were married in 2018. The indictment alleges that Timothy Harron was also a previously convicted felon, and that this fact was concealed from the NC Medicaid on enrollment documents. Harron pleaded guilty to allegations that Harron and her husband then worked together to expand the Agape fraud upon NC Medicaid, by fraudulently billing the program for more than $10 Million, just in the period between 2017 and 2019.

As charged, Harron admitted that she and her husband carried out the fraud by exploiting an eligibility tool that was entrusted only to NC Medicaid providers. Specifically, Harron and her husband searched publicly available sources, such as obituary postings on the internet by North Carolina funeral homes, to locate recently deceased North Carolinians. Harron admitted that the two would then extract from the obituary postings certain personal information for the deceased, including their name, date of birth, and date of death. Then, utilizing the extracted information, the defendants would then query the NC Medicaid eligibility tool to determine whether the deceased individual had a Medicaid Identification Number. If the deceased North Carolinian had a valid Medicaid Identification Number and was otherwise eligible for Medicaid coverage during their life, the defendants would use that individual’s identity to “back-bill” NC Medicaid, through Agape, for up to one year of fictitious home health services that were allegedly rendered prior to the death of the individual. NC Medicaid then disbursed millions to Agape, all of which flowed into accounts controlled by the Harron and her husband.

Harron admitted that she and her husband carried out the fraud via the internet from locations around the globe, including their corporate office building in Las Vegas, their penthouse condominium in Las Vegas, a corporate office in North Carolina, and from various hotels and luxury resorts in and outside of the United States.

Harron further pled guilty to laundering the proceeds of the Agape fraud into various luxury items. These expenses included a $900,000 wire for the purchase of a British Aerospace Bae 125-800A private jet, hundreds of thousands of dollars in Tiffany & Co. and Brioni clothing and jewelry, thousands of dollars on Eastern North Carolina business properties, and thousands of dollars in gym equipment.

Latisha Harron pleaded guilty to (1) Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud and Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349, which carries a maximum punishment of up to 20 years in prison, (2) one count of Aggravated Identity Theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A, each of which carry a maximum punishment of not less than, nor more than, two years in prison consecutive to other sentences, and (5) Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h), which carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the plea. The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, and the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Investigations Division, are all investigating the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Gilmore is the prosecutor on this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Harris represents the United States with respect to forfeiture aspects of the case.

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CBPP wants you to think the massive fraud, waste and abuse in Medicaid compared to other health insurance programs is all just “paperwork” errors.

Clipped from: https://www.cbpp.org/blog/medicaid-improper-payment-rates-dont-signal-fraud-or-abuse

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its 2020 Estimated Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) rate — which measures “improper” payments in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — but policymakers shouldn’t use it to justify imposing additional, burdensome verification and paperwork requirements or to distract from the larger problem of eligible people losing coverage and access to care. That’s because, despite how some program critics have represented them, these rates measure state procedural mistakes; they don’t necessarily mean a beneficiary did anything wrong or was ineligible for Medicaid.

The data that CMS released are based on audits of whether states are implementing their Medicaid and CHIP programs in accordance with federal and state policies. The PERM program estimates payment error rates in three areas: fee-for-service payments, managed care payments, and eligibility.

The overall PERM rate this year was 21.36 percent. While it’s higher than last year’s 14.9 percent, that’s mostly because CMS measured eligibility payment errors for more states, not because errors increased.

Neither the increase in, nor the level of, the PERM rate means that large numbers of ineligible people are getting coverage through Medicaid.

A finding of an improper payment doesn’t mean the payment was made to an ineligible person or for a service that shouldn’t have been provided. While PERM audits may find some incorrect eligibility determinations, most eligibility errors reflect paperwork problems or other procedural mistakes that can easily occur when eligible people enroll. In fact, the CMS report notes, “Medicaid and CHIP eligibility improper payments are mostly due to insufficient documentation to affirmatively verify eligibility or non-compliance with eligibility redetermination requirements,” rather than a finding of ineligibility. Many Medicaid errors also occur when states enroll providers — or providers bill for services — without following all relevant federal and state procedures.

For example, all of the following procedural mistakes would count toward the error rate, even though they wouldn’t result in ineligible people getting coverage:

• Incorrect coding. A state inadvertently assigns the parent eligibility code to an eligible child. This is a clerical error but would count as an improper payment.
• Incorrect federal match. A state claims the enhanced federal match rate available only for those enrolled through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion for a parent who would have been eligible for Medicaid even before expansion.
• Insufficient documentation in a beneficiary’s case file. When conducting eligibility determinations, states can use electronic sources to verify the information on a Medicaid or CHIP application. An improper payment would occur if an eligibility worker fails to document the verification sources they used when they processed an application or the eligibility system fails to retain a proper record of the verification. According to CMS, state failure to document verification sources is one of the biggest drivers of an increase in improper payment rates.
• Incorrect assignment to managed care. States are expanding the use of managed care in their programs by enrolling groups of people who previously received benefits through the state’s fee-for-service program, such as people with disabilities. A state incorrectly enrolling a beneficiary in managed care when they should’ve remained in fee-for-service — a mistake likely to occur when a state is transitioning thousands of beneficiaries to managed care — would count as an improper payment.
• Incorrect health insurance program assignment. A state incorrectly determines a beneficiary eligible for CHIP when they should have been determined eligible for Medicaid. CMS cited this as a driving factor behind an increase in the CHIP improper payment rate.

States can also be found in error when their actions are based on a misunderstanding of policy, or even when CMS changes its interpretation of federal policy. That happened last year in Idaho. Based on past CMS guidance, Idaho automatically renewed beneficiaries who had previously attested that they had no income and for whom electronic data sources also show no income. But during last year’s PERM audit, CMS informed Idaho that its process didn’t comply with federal requirements and that all such renewals would count toward its PERM rate.

Idaho’s experience also illustrates the harm when states are pushed to impose new and burdensome verification requirements. Because of CMS’ feedback, Idaho has changed its verification process, requiring additional documentation from beneficiaries before renewing their coverage. These changes have caused beneficiaries, including eligible children with complex health care needs, to lose coverage and forgo needed medical care while trying to re-enroll in Medicaid.

Before COVID-19, Medicaid enrollment had been declining, and uninsurance had risen for both children and adults — trends the Trump Administration helped drive with its push to increase verification and paperwork requirements. Instead of maintaining this harmful approach, the Biden Administration should recognize that program integrity also requires making sure that eligible people can get and stay covered and should work with states to streamline eligibility and enrollment processes while maintaining accuracy.

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An Illinois fraudster stole $1.2M from Medicaid with a mental health services-not-provided scheme.

Clipped from: https://patch.com/illinois/oakpark/oak-park-doctor-niece-accused-1-2m-medicaid-fraud-case

A Cook County doctor and his niece from Matteson are facing charges in a massive medicaid fraud case.

OAK PARK, IL — A doctor from Oak Park and a Matteson woman are facing charges stemming from accusations they defrauded the state out of more than $1.2 million in Medicaid funds, Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Monday, in a news release.

According to Raoul, 66-year-old Dr. William McMiller and his niece, 36-year-old Jonise Williams, are facing charges in Cook County Circuit Court, including theft of government property by deception and theft of government property by unauthorized control, each a Class X felony punishable by six to 30 years in prison. Each are also facing charges of felony vendor fraud, and felony forgery, according to the news release.

McMiller and Williams also face a fine of up to $25,000 for each charge, Raoul announced.

McMiller is a licensed physician who owns Dr. Bill’s Learning Center, which has two locations in Chicago and Oak Park. According to the news release, both centers offer tutoring services to children and clinical therapy and psychiatric services. According to the news release, Williams handled the billing at Dr. Bill’s Learning Centers, and Williams and McMiller submitted several claims to the Illinois Medicaid program for psychotherapy and medical services that weren’t provided.
 

“Our Medicaid program serves some of the state’s most vulnerable residents and children,” Raoul stated, in the news release. “I am committed to partnering with other agencies to take action against individuals who use the program to defraud the people of Illinois.”

The Illinois State Police Medicaid Fraud Control Unit opened the investigation after receiving a referral from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) Office of the Inspector General, the news release said. The HFS Office of the Inspector General then raised an allegation of fraud against McMiller based on the “normal number of service hours that he billed each day,” the news release stated.
 

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A KY Medicaid fraudster stole from Medicaid AND from Medicaid members (by charging them for services covered by Medicaid).

Clipped from: https://www.harlanenterprise.net/2020/11/24/medicaid-fraud-charges-for-owner-of-harlan-rehab-facility/

BY TOM LATEK, Kentucky Today

A two-year investigation has led to federal health care fraud charges against the owner of rehabilitation facilities in eastern Kentucky.

Eugene Sisco III, 35, of Pikeville, the owner of several rehabilitation facilities in Pike, Floyd and Harlan counties, as well as a urine drug testing lab in Pike County, is accused of illegally charging patients cash for services that were covered by Medicaid and for which he had been fraudulently billing Medicaid.

According to a federal indictment, it is alleged that Sisco has received over $3,000,000 in cash paid to him by patients seeking treatment for addiction between 2016 and 2018.  Federal search warrants were executed on five of Mr. Sisco’s businesses in February of 2020.

When questioned by employees at the facilities about having the patients pay cash, since the services were under Medicaid, the indictment states Sisco would lie and say services such as counseling or urine drug testing were not covered by Medicaid.

The indictment accuses Sisco of charging patients $200-$300 for the same services for which he was also billing Medicaid. He is also alleged to have charged the Medicaid members $225 per month for counseling services, for which he was also billing the federal agency, as well as for urine drug tests for a company he owned, which again were also submitted to Medicaid for payment.    

Sisco was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of federal wire fraud, which carries a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, as well as health care fraud, which has a maximum of ten years in federal prison if convicted.

This was a joint investigation by Appalachia Narcotics Investigations, Diversion Enforcement Task Force, the FBI HEAT Task Force (All Appalachia HIDTA Task Forces) and the United States Attorney’s Office in Lexington. They were assisted by the Kentucky State Police, Harlan County Sheriff’s Office, Harlan Police Department and the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Sisco is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 7 at U.S. District Court in London.

About Whitney Leggett

Whitney Leggett is managing editor of The Winchester Sun and Winchester Living magazine. To contact her, email whitney.leggett@winchestersun.com or call 859-759-0049.

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A Washington provider stole $5M from Medicaid in a services-not-provided scheme.

Clipped from: https://apnews.com/article/spokane-washington-money-laundering-medicaid-theft-e6f082fdbbc38668d0f9618f11c1801f

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The owner of a health clinic based in Spokane, Washington, is facing charges of theft and money laundering after investigators alleged fraudulent Medicaid billing totaling more than $5 million since 2017.

The Spokesman-Review reports Paul Means, and his firm Abilia Healthcare, were targeted following an audit of its billing by the Washington State Health Care Authority that revealed irregularities. Investigators believe the proceeds of the scheme, which involved billing the state for intensive, in-person examinations when they were conducted over the internet or not at all, were used to buy a $300,000 home on Spokane’s South Hill and several vehicles.

Means, who has been practicing in the state since 2009 and has no evidence of discipline from the Washington Department of Health, declined to comment on the allegations when reached by the newspaper by phone Wednesday. No attorney was listed in court records as of Wednesday.

Investigators from the Washington Attorney General Office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Division have been tracking Means since at least March, according to court records.

They were tipped off by an abnormally large amount of billing codes indicating in-person consultations lasting half an hour or more, many of them at an in-person substance abuse treatment center in Spokane Valley.

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A Wisconsin in home nurse stole $28,000 from Medicaid for fake billings for caring for a premie.

Clipped from: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2020/11/11/home-care-nurse-charged-medicaid-fraud-theft/6252190002/

A Milwaukee nurse has been charged with theft and fraud related to her billing for private-duty work.

Paige O’Connor, 49, was charged in Dane County by the state Department of Justice after an investigation by its Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse unit.

According the department, a mother hired O’Connor to care for her young child, born prematurely in 2017, who had severe medical issues due to poor lung function. Starting in March 2019, O’Connor provided skilled care like suctioning, monitoring the ventilator and feeding via a tube. The expense was covered by Medicaid.

When the mother read the summaries of benefits provided by the program early this year, she noticed O’Connor had been billing Medicaid for times she didn’t work at the home, including $510 a day for a time O’Connor was a vacation in Florida last fall.

O’Connor’s total bogus billing to Medicaid topped $28,000, according the DOJ.

She is charged with theft by false representation and medical assistance fraud, both felonies.  According to online court records, O’Connor is scheduled to make her initial court appearance Jan. 7.

O’Connor’s attorney, Ryan Harrington, said, “We deny all charges and look forward to setting the matter for preliminary hearing and putting the State to its strictest proof as we continue to thoroughly investigate the allegations contained in the complaint.”

Contact Bruce Vielmetti at (414) 224-2187 or bvielmetti@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ProofHearsay.