Two Detroit-area home healthcare providers have pled guilty in U.S. District Court for their roles in a home-health scheme to defraud Medicare according to the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.
Physical Therapy assistant Faisal Chaudry pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud before Eastern District of Michigan U.S District Court Judge Denise Page Hood. Guy Ross, a medical assistant, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to receive healthcare kickbacks.
Chaudry faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while Ross faces a maximum five-year sentence and $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for October 21.
According to court documents, Chaudry worked for All American Home Care, Inc., and other affiliated entities. According to All American, its business provided home health services which included physical therapy to Medicare beneficiaries.
According to investigators, Chaudry's role in the scheme was to sign documents for physical therapy visits, the majority of which never occurred. For his part, Chaudry was paid $45 by All American for each document he signed, including documents used to bill Medicare $917,394 for patients he never saw or for whom health services were medically unnecessary.
Ross, in his plea, admitted that he received kickbacks from the owners of Patient Choice Home Healthcare, Inc., and All American for referring home health patients to the two companies. Ross said Mohammed Shahab, an owner of Patient Choice and All American, paid him $500 for each referred patient and that he recruited 21 patients for Shahab, who then billed Medicare for purported visits to this patients.
In connection with this cas,e Shahab pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud charges earlier this year.
Ross was charged in a separate case with recruiting roughly 80 patients for Visiting Nurse Services. When combined, the two schemes resulted in more than $470,000 in fraudulent claims paid to the agencies by Medicare.
The cases are the latest to be brought by Medicare Fraud Strike Force, formed in 2007 to weed out fraudulent billing. Operating in seven districts, the strike force operations have obtained indictments for 635 people since its inception, representing more than $1.4 billion in false billings.