Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

The United States' biggest operator of inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) agreed to pay $48 million last week to settle allegations by the Federal government that some of the facilities it operated gave false information to Medicare in order to remain listed as an IRF and receive higher reimbursements than they would otherwise have.Federal investigators say the firm began to misdiagnose patients 8 years ago in order to qualify them for inpatient treatment that they would not ordinarily need. As Medicare and Medicaid use information about diagnoses given to patients in a facility to...

A Texas woman will spend over 15 years in Federal prison after pleading guilty to her alleged involvement in a scheme to pay kickbacks to both doctors and Medicare beneficiaries in exchange for agreeing to bill for medically unnecessary home health care services.The 54-year-old Houston resident was a patient recruiter and the operator of a home health agency in the area. Per investigators, she paid bribes and illegal kickbacks to both physicians and patients to obtain fraudulent paperwork that she used to bill Medicare. They say she was involved in between $9.5 million and $25 million in...

A Baton Rouge doctor will spend over three years in Federal custody after being convicted for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to defraud Medicare.Federal officials say the 66-year-old doctor, who was once part owner of a pain management clinic, submitted a series of false claims to Medicare and other insurers starting in early 2005 and continuing for over a decade.Per investigators, the doctor sent claims to Medicare indicating that he carried out minor surgical procedures on a day following the patients' initial visit, despite the procedure and the visit occurring on the same day....

A Miami woman was sentenced to 91 months in Federal prison last week after pleading guilty to involvement in a scheme to defraud Medicare of $2.5 million.The 54-year-old woman formerly owned a clinic in Miami that offered home health care services to Medicare beneficiaries. Per investigators, the woman sought out and accepted kickbacks from patient recruiters and owners of other Miami-area health care providers in exchange for providing prescriptions for home health care services.Per her admissions as part of the plea deal, the prescriptions she wrote were used by the home health care...