U.S. Department
of Justice
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
MEDIA INQUIRIES: KATHY COLVIN |
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2011
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LOCAL HOME HEALTH CARE AGENCY OWNERS AND THEIR PATIENT RECRUITER
The pleas were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas; Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Casey, Jr., of the FBI’s Dallas Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. According to court documents, Ernest Amadi was the chief executive officer of Alliance, which was located on Estate Lane in Dallas. George Opurum was the chief financial officer and alternate administrator of Alliance. Edith Amadi and Agatha Opurum were both nurses at Alliance. As part of the conspiracy, from November 2008 through mid-February 2011, Alliance submitted claims to Medicare for home health services purportedly provided to Medicare beneficiaries. According to court documents, Alliance employees, including the owners, falsified Medicare documentation and skilled nursing notes indicating that the patients were homebound and eligible for home health care services. In fact, the majority of Alliance patients were not eligible for the services because they were not homebound. According to court documents, Alliance employees and owners falsified time sheets and patient visit logs for services that were not adequately rendered or were never provided at all. Alliance then billed Medicare as if the services were adequately provided Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in nine locations have charged more than 1,140 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $2.9 billion. In addition, the HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers. ###
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