Health Care Clinic Owner Sentenced for Role in $7 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
| U.S. Department of JusticeDecember 19, 2013 |
WASHINGTON—The owner of a Miami home health care company was sentenced to serve 235 months in prison today for her participation in a $7 million health care fraud scheme involving defunct home health care company Anna Nursing Services Corp.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer of the Southern District of Florida; Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Steinbach of the FBI’s Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Christopher B. Dennis of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Office of Investigations Miami Office made the announcement.
Dora Moreira, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez in the Southern District of Florida. In addition to her prison term, Moreira was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $6,928,931 in restitution.
In October 2013, Moreira was convicted by a jury of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and receive and pay health care kickbacks, one count of payment of kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering; and five counts of money laundering.
Moreira was the owner and operator of Anna Nursing, a Miami home health care agency that purported to provide home health and physical therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries.
According to evidence presented at trial, Moreira operated Anna Nursing for the purpose of billing the Medicare Program for, among other things, expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided.
Moreira paid kickbacks and bribes to patients, negotiated and interacted with patient recruiters, and coordinated and oversaw the submission of fraudulent claims to the Medicare program. Moreira also laundered money received from Medicare in order to conceal her financial transactions and generate cash needed to pay kickbacks to patients, patient recruiters, and others in return for assisting her in the fraudulent scheme at Anna Nursing.
From approximately July 2010 through approximately May 2013, Anna Nursing was paid approximately $7 million by Medicare for fraudulent claims for home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided.
This case was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Chief Benton Curtis and Trial Attorney A. Brendan Stewart of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,700 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5.5 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.
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