Four Detroit-area residents have been indictedby the federal government for Medicare fraud.
The Department of Justice says Medicare fraud schemes were operated out of Patient Choice Home Healthcare and All American Home Care.
Maira Suleman, 30; John Thomas, 32; Sherry Prescott, 50; and Myra Jones, 50, were each charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Pramod Raval, M.D., 57, who was previously charged with conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, was also charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud in the indictment unsealed today.
From the DOJ release:
The defendants’ co-conspirators owned and operated Patient Choice and All American. These agencies purported to provide home health therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries that were unnecessary and/or were never performed. Suleman, Thomas and Prescott are alleged to have falsified medical records used to justify and/or bill services to Medicare. In addition, the indictment alleges that Jones and several other individuals recruited Medicare beneficiaries for the owners of Patient Choice and All American, paying the beneficiaries kickbacks for their Medicare information and their signatures on documents that detailed physical therapy services that were either never rendered or not medically necessary.
The fraud resulted in Medicare payments of more than $14.5 million. In addition to the four named today, the DOJ says 21 people have now been charged for their alleged roles in this health care fraud scheme.
