Yunesky I. Fornaris, owner of Elite Home Care in Miami, was arrested Tuesday and charged for his role in a $15 million healthcare fraud scheme that involved submitting false claims for home health services to Medicare, according to the Department of Justice.
According to the indictment, Medicare issued and continued to reauthorize a provider number for Elite Home Care based on fraudulent application documents Mr. Fornaris and his co-conspirators submitted. The number enabled Mr. Fornaris and his co-conspirators to submit false claims to Medicare for services that were not medically necessary or were never provided, according to the DOJ.
Medicare paid about $15 million due to the false claims submitted by Elite Home Care.
From April 2010 through July 2016, Mr. Fornaris and his co-conspirators hid their ownership in Elite Home Care in the name of a nominee owner — a person who holds ownership rights on behalf of the true economic owner — to conceal their participation in the healthcare fraud scheme, according to the DOJ.
More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits:
5 latest healthcare industry lawsuits
79-year-old physician convicted in bribes-for-test-referrals scheme
Physician imposter convicted in Medicare fraud scheme