Two physicians in Dallas and three nurses were sentenced to prison Oct. 16 for their roles in an $11.3 million Medicare fraud scheme, according to the Department of Justice.
From 2007 through 2015, the healthcare providers submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare through a home health agency and physician house call company partly owned by two of the defendants, according to evidence presented at the trial.
Patience Okoroji, a vocational nurse and the part-time owner of Timely Home Health Services, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for submitting false claims to Medicare, according to the department. Kelly Robinett, MD, former part-owner and supervising physician at Frisco, Texas-based Boomer House Calls, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for certifying Medicare beneficiaries, even though he did not see them, for medically unnecessary services.
Two other nurses — Joy Ogwuegbu and Kingsley Nwanguma — were sentenced to three and a half years in prison for falsifying nursing assessments and nursing notes, the Justice Department said. Another physician involved in the scheme, Angel Claudio, MD, was sentenced to six months in prison.