According to evidence presented at trial, Mr. Nerey referred Medicare beneficiaries to two home healthcare companies in return for kickbacks. Some of the patients he referred did not qualify for home healthcare services. Mr. Nerey was involved in the kickback scheme from October 2014 to September 2015, according to the DOJ.
In addition to his prison term, Mr. Nerey was ordered to pay more than $2.3 million in restitution.
A federal grand jury returned a 47-count indictment Tuesday against the former CFO of a Medicaid-funded behavioral health system in North Carolina, according to the Department of Justice.
The indictment charged William Canupp, former CFO of Beulaville, N.C.-based Eastpointe Human Services, with conspiracy, bribery, organization fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Eastpointe manages the public sector behavioral health system for several counties in Eastern North Carolina.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prime-healthcare-20160525-snap-story.html
The U.S. Justice Department has joined a whistle-blower case against Prime Healthcare Services, adding significant weight to allegations of widespreadMedicare overbilling at 14 of the company’s hospitals in California. A Los Angeles magistrate judge granted the agency’s request to intervene in the case Tuesday, one day after the government declared in a court filing that its investigation of the Ontario- hospital operator has “yielded sufficient evidence” that the facilities “submitted or caused the submission of claims to Medicare for unnecessary inpatient stays.” Prime finds itself under federal scrutiny because of a whistle-blower complaint submitted in 2011 by Karin Berntsen, a registered nurse and director of quality and risk management at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego. Berntsen’s lawsuit accuses Prime of routinely making Medicare patients’ illnesses seem more severe than they really were in order to justify billing for additional services and increasing hospital admissions.
Federal Trade Commission chairwoman Edith Ramirez is concerned that consolidation in health care is driving up prices for consumers.
HENRY KOTULA 