The owner of two Norristown, Pa.-based ambulatory companies was sentenced in connection with a scheme to defraud Medicare by billing for unnecessary ambulance services, obstructing two federal audits and laundering criminal proceeds, according to the Department of Justice.
According to the 19-count indictment filed in district court, Zahar Tkach was found guilty and sentenced to 60-months incarceration and three years' supervised release and was ordered to pay $1,250,930 in restitution.
DOJ officials said Mr. Tkach owned and operated NovaCare Ambulance Services and Cardiac Care Ambulance. Mr. Tkach transported dialysis patients and facilitated paratransit services that were not medically necessary for patients and falsely billed Medicare for those services. The court also found Mr. Tkach obstructed audits conducted by Medicare in 2011 by altering, and telling his employees to alter, ambulance transport records and medical authorization forms, all of which he submitted to Medicare auditors to support the fraudulent billings.
Officials said the scheme continued from June 2008 to April 2012.