Authorities arrested the owner and an employee of Boston-based Harmony Home Health Care Monday for allegedly defrauding about $2.7 million from Massachusetts' Medicaid program.
The Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General began investigating the owner, Elena Kurbatzky, and employee Natan Zalyapin after MassHealth informed the agency about suspected misconduct and billing fraud. The office claims the defendants billed MassHealth for home health services to 38 patients they did not administer or overbilled for between February 2015 and October 2016.
The investigation also alleges the defendants, both registered nurses providing most of the nursing care at Harmony, billed MassHealth for services unauthorized by physicians and forged physician signatures to feign authorization.
The defendants were arraigned in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston July 11. Both pleaded not guilty to their respective charges, which included charges of Medicaid false claims, larceny over $250 by false pretenses and Medicaid member eligibility fraud.