A federal jury in Houston has convicted Helen Etinfoh and Paula Whitfield for their roles in a Medicare fraud conspiracy involving fraudulent claims of hurricane damage to power wheelchairs.
Etinfoh was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and four counts of healthcare fraud. Whitfield was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of healthcare fraud.
Each conviction carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Etinfoh was the owner and operator of Luant & Odera, Inc., a Houston-area durable medical equipment company doing business as Tonni Medical Equipment & Supplies. According to investigators, Whitfield was a recruiter for Luant who was paid kickbacks in exchange for providing the company with beneficiaries in whose names bills could be submitted to Medicare.
According to court testimony, Etinfoh and co-conspirators submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary DME, including power wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories and motorized scooters.
Investigators said Luant billed Medicare under a special code that designated power wheelchairs as replacements for wheelchairs lost during hurricanes that hit the Houston area in the fall of 2008, even though the hurricanes did not damage the wheelchairs.
The beneficiaries who were recruited to give their Medicare information – all of whom could walk – testified that they neither needed nor used the power wheelchairs delivered by Luant, which were often billed to Medicare at more than $6,000 per chair.