Owners and Nurses of Chicago Home Health Care Company Among Seven Indicted in Medicare Fraud and Kickback Scheme

The FBI reports:

The husband-and-wife owners of a Chicago home-healthcare business paid kickbacks to employees and marketers in exchange for referring elderly and disabled patients to the company for unnecessary or non-existent treatment that was funded by Medicare, according to a 23-count federal indictment unsealed today.

HCN Home Healthcare Inc., through its owners, ESTRELLITA DUQUILLA and MIGUEL DUQUILLA, paid kickbacks to employees and marketers to induce the referral of Medicare beneficiaries to HCN, according to the indictment. The indictment further contends that HCN employees altered nursing reports and patient files to falsely create the appearance that its patients qualified for in-home treatment. As a result of the kickback and fraudulent billing scheme, Medicare made overpayments to HCN in excess of $6 million, according to the indictment.

The Duquillas, of Des Plaines, were each charged with conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks. Also charged in the conspiracy were four employees of HCN and an outside marketer who is married to an HCN nurse.

The indictment comes amid a lengthy federal investigation that included the execution of a search warrant at HCN’s office. The investigation was carried out by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which consists of agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Justice Department’s Fraud Section. The strike force is part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention & Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and HHS to prevent fraud and to enforce anti-fraud laws around the country.

The great moments of socialized medicine.