Two Illinois home healthcare company owners were sentenced to prison for their roles in a $6.7 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Patricia Omorogbe, RN, 61, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $6.6 million in restitution, according to a Sept. 30 Justice Department news release. Felix Omorogbe, 71, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.6 million in restitution.
Between January 2009 and June 2018, the pair paid bribes and kickbacks to patient marketers in exchange for referrals of Medicare beneficiaries for the three home healthcare companies they owned, according to the Justice Department. A&Z Home Health Care and Dominion Home Health Care were located in Lansing, Ill., and Alliance Home Health Care was based in Hammond, Ind.
Patricia Omorogbe signed sham contracts with patient marketers and Felix Omorogbe provided kickbacks by writing checks to himself and agency employees, who then converted the checks to cash, according to the release. Their companies would admit, discharge and recertify some patients repeatedly, regardless of their medical conditions.