Miami Medical Clinic Owner Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud

January 14, 2014

A Miami woman plead guilty this week for her part in an $8 million South Florida medicare fraud scheme centering around a now-defunct home health care company.

According to court documents, the woman’s co-defendants were patient recruiters for the owners and operators of Flores Home Health, a Miami home health care agency that purported to provide home health and physical therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries. The defendant herself also owned and operated a Miami medical clinic that provided fraudulent prescriptions to these patient recruiters as well as to the owners and operators of Flores Home Health.

Investigations by the Medicaid Fraud Strike Force revealed that the defendants would first recruit patients for Flores Home Health and then would solicit and receive kickbacks and bribes from the owners and operators of Flores Home in return for allowing the agency to bill the Medicare program on behalf of the recruited Medicare patients. These Medicare beneficiaries were billed for home health care, like expensive physical therapies, that were not medically necessary or never provided at all.

The defendant plead guilty in U.S. District Court of and for the Southern District of Florida, and is expected to be sentenced in mid-March. Conspiracy to commit health care fraud carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison.

State and Federal Agents target all players in these types of schemes, many times alleging coding irregularities, kickbacks to patients and staff, medicaid billing for services not provided, and over charging for medical services.

Are you being investigated for healthcare-related fraud? The Miami Medicare and Medicaid Fraud attorneys at Whittel & Melton are ready to assist and lead your defense.
It is important that you begin defense as early as possible — speaking to law enforcement before speaking to an attorney can jeopardize your rights and set you up for more severe charges and criminal penalties.

Don’t wait to be audited or questioned by the Attorney General’s office, FBI, Health and Human Services investigators, or the U.S. Attorneys Office before contacting an experienced Miami Medicaid Fraud Attorney.

Contact us today. Local: (561) 367-8777 or statewide, toll free: (866) 608-5529.