Miami Herald's Jay Weaver reports jury convicts Miami woman of Medicare fraud involving mental-health clinics; Two Home Health Care Agencies in Conspiracy: ABC Home Health Care and Florida Home Health Care Providers
Posted on Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011
Jury convicts Miami woman of Medicare fraud involving mental-health clinics
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
A business woman accused of conspiring with the owners of a Miami-based company in the nation’s biggest mental-health billing racket was convicted of defrauding Medicare Tuesday by a federal jury.
Judith Negron, 40, of Hialeah, served as vice president of a subsidiary of American Therapeutic Corp., a seven-clinic chain that billed Medicare $200 million for group mental health sessions that were either unnecessary or not provided to patients.
Some people, suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, could not have benefitted from the treatments.
Negron ran MedLink Professional Management Group, which Justice Department prosecutor Jennifer Saulino said was set up solely to launder $83 million in Medicare payments to American Therapeutic’s owners, employees and others who participated in the scheme over the past decade.
Negron was found guilty of 24 counts of conspiracy, fraud, paying kickbacks and money laundering. She faces up to 20 years in prison when she is sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King. No date has been set for that hearing.
Negron’s conviction at trial sets her apart from three other major defendants charged last October in the American Therapeutic prosecution.
In April, the top executives of American Therapeutic, Lawrence S. Duran and Marianella Valera, pleaded guilty. Duran, 49, and Valera, 40, both of Miami and now in custody, owned the chain of clinics.
Also that month, the company’s marketing director, Margarita Acevedo, 41, became the first defendant to plead guilty, admitting that she paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to South Florida recruiters associated with assisted-living facilities and halfway houses.
In addition, 20 other American Therapeutic employees, psychiatrists and others have been charged in the sprawling investigation by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service.
In another Medicare criminal case, a Miami-Dade doctor pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud conspiracy in connection with two agencies, ABC Home Health Care, 8360 W. Flagler St., and Florida Home Health Care Providers, 4150 NW Seventh St. They submitted a combined $25 million in bogus bills to Medicare for unnecessary diabetic services, physical therapy and other treatments.
Dr. Jose Nunez admitted he wrote prescriptions for homebound diabetic patients and received kickbacks as payments for his services, according to prosecutor Joseph Beemsterboer.
Nunez is among dozens of defendants, including other physicians, charged in the ABC and Florida Home investigation.
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Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/08/23/v-print/2372008/jury-convicts-miami-woman-of-medicare.html#ixzz1WMCF6PfR
For more information about a Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County home health care agency for seniors, Alzheimer's patients, sufferers of dementia and other family members needing home health care services or in-home health aides, contact Brian Gauthier at A Family Member HomeCare (954) 986-5090 or visit www.afamilymemberhomecare.com.
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