The owner of Chicago-based Hexagram Home Health Care received a 17-count indictment for Medicare fraud, according to the FBI.
The indictment, announced Friday, alleges the owner of Hexagram, Jaqueline Tuanqui, paid kickbacks to marketers in exchange for referring elderly patients to the company for unnecessary treatment funded by Medicare. Medicare paid Hexagram approximately $450,000 for treatment rendered to patients referred in the kickback scheme, according to the FBI.
An outside marketer — the owner of Elgin, Ill.-based Allied Care Services — was also charged in the scheme for one count of conspiracy to pay or receive healthcare kickbacks and eight counts of receiving kickbacks.
Both individuals pleaded not guilty during arraignments. The kickback and kickback conspiracy counts are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.