Two Dallas doctors and three nurses were sentenced yesterday
in an $11.3 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false and fraudulent claims
for home health services.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the
Northern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge C.J. Porter of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General’s (HHS-OIG)
Dallas Region, Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson of the FBI’s Dallas Field
Office, and Director of Law Enforcement David Maxwell of the Texas Attorney
General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), made the announcement
Patience Okoroji, 60, of Dallas County, Texas, was sentenced
by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas to serve
120 months in prison for her role in the fraudulent scheme as a part-owner of
Timely Home Health Services Inc. (Timely) and a Licensed Vocational Nurse
(LVN). Kelly Robinett, M.D., 69, of
Denton County, Texas, who was a former part-owner and supervising physician at
Boomer House Calls (Boomer) of Frisco, Texas, was sentenced to serve 42 months
in prison; Joy Ogwuegbu, 42, of Collin County, Texas, the former Director of
Nursing at Timely, was sentenced to serve 42 months in prison and Kingsley
Nwanguma, 48, of Dallas County, an LVN at Timely, was sentenced to serve 42
months in prison. Angel Claudio, M.D.,
61, of Hidalgo County was sentenced to serve six months in prison.
On June 22, following a five-day trial before Judge
O’Connor, Robinett and Nwanguma were each convicted of one count of conspiracy
to commit health care fraud. In
addition, Robinett and Nwanguma were each convicted of three counts of health
care fraud, and Ogwuegbu was convicted of four counts of health care
fraud. Claudio; Okoroji; Usani Ewah, 60,
of Dallas County, a part-owner of Timely and a registered nurse (RN); and Shawn
Chamberlain, 49, of Collin County, a part-owner of Boomer and a physician’s
assistant, all pleaded guilty.
Chamberlain and Ewah are awaiting sentencing.
According to evidence presented at trial, from 2007 through
2015, Okoroji, Ewah, Nwanguma, Ogwuegbu, Claudio, Robinett, and Chamberlain
engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting and causing the
submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, through Timely, a home
health agency, and Boomer, a physician house call company. The evidence presented at trial showed that
Robinett, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, certified Medicare
beneficiaries—whom he had never seen and did not care to see—for medically
unnecessary home health services that were often not provided. The evidence further established that Ogwuegbu,
a registered nurse, falsified nursing assessments and Nwanguma, a licensed
vocational nurse, falsified nursing notes, to make it appear as if Medicare
beneficiaries were qualified for and were provided skilled nursing
services.
Evidence at trial demonstrated that Timely billed Medicare
for over $11.3 million for home health services purportedly provided to
Timely’s patients, some of which was attributable to certifications Robinett
signed. Court documents also show that
Robinett’s company, Boomer, billed Medicare over $1.6 million for medically
unnecessary home health certifications and services and physician’s home
visits.
This case was investigated by the HHS-OIG, FBI, and
MFCU. Assistant Deputy Chief Adrienne
Frazior and Trial Attorneys Aleza Remis and Christina Liu of the Criminal
Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The Fraud Section leads the Medicare Fraud Strike Force,
which is part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS
to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current
anti-fraud laws around the country.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now
operating in 12 cities across the country, has charged nearly 4,000 defendants
who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $14 billion.
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