We would like to take this early opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very happy Fourth of July! Independence Day takes place next Wednesday and we hope that it’s your most joyous celebration of our nation yet. Tensions may be high, at the moment, but we all have so much to be proud of, as Americans. It is both our hope and our belief that, moving forward, we will only have more to be proud of.
Of course, it’s our job, here at Allegiant Experts, to provide clinical expertise to attorneys who are trying cases that involve actions by those who don’t do our nation proud. Readers of the Allegiant Experts Blog are well aware that instances of health care fraud are rampant in our nation. Just this past Monday, the news of the conviction of a Texas-based doctor and two nurses was published by the United States Department of Justice.
“A federal jury found one physician and two nurses guilty today of health care fraud, and one physician and one nurse guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, all for their roles in a home health fraud scheme,” the report reveals, naming 70 year-old, Dr. Kelly Robinett, 47 year-old, Kingsley Nwanguma and 42 year-old, Joy Ogwuegbu as the three conspirators in the case.
Guilty verdicts were found after a five day trial.
According to the report, the trial took five days and guilty verdicts were reached convicting Robinett and Nwanguma each of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud as well as three counts of health care fraud. Ogwuegbu was convicted of four counts of health care fraud. “Sentencing before U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas, who presided over the trial, has not yet been scheduled,” the report details.
Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division was among those who made the announcement of the convictions this past Monday. In the report, he explains that the trio “engaged in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud the taxpayer-funded Medicare program by certifying patients for medically unnecessary home health services and falsifying medical records to hide their crimes.”
Evidence in the trial spanned 2007 to 2015.
It showed that the defendants submitted and caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. Robinett, an osteopathic doctor, certified Medicare beneficiaries whom he had never seen before for medically unnecessary home health services. These services, by the way, were never provided.
The evidence also showed that Ogwuegbu, a registered nurse, falsified nursing assessments while Nwanguma, a licensed vocational nurse, falsified nursing notes. They made it appear as if the Medicare beneficiaries were qualified for and were provided skilled nursing services. The trio submitted their false claims through Timely Home Health Services Inc. (Timely), a home health agency, and Boomer House Calls, a physician house call company owned by Robinett.
In total, Timely billed Medicare for over $11.3 million while Boomer House Calls billed Medicare approximately $1 million. All billings were to cover purported home health services, unnecessary home health certifications and physician’s home visits.
Are you an attorney trying your own health care fraud case?
At Allegiant Experts, we remain committed to helping attorneys who require clinical expertise to find truth in their cases. Please don’t hesitate to call Allegiant Experts to find out how our clinical expertise may help your case. For more information, call us at 407-217-5831 or email us at info@allegiantexperts.com.
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