On Wednesday, March 14, 2018, it was announced that three Miami, Florida-area home health agency owners had been charged in an indictment for their alleged participation in a health care fraud scheme involving a now-defunct home health agency in Miami. 39-year-old Ailin Consuelo Rodriguez Sigler, 57-year-old Zoila C. Rios and 66-year-old Tomas A. Rodriguez were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, and three counts of health care fraud.
The defendants were arrested on Tuesday morning. The indictment alleges that from January of 2011 through November of 2014, the defendants owned Florida Patient Care Corp. and were involved in a fraudulent scheme in which they agreed with the owners and operators of multiple home health therapy staffing companies and others to bill Medicare for services that were never provided, medically unnecessary or not eligible for Medicare reimbursement.
The indictment suggests that the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for home health therapy care and physical and occupational therapy services supposedly provided by Florida Patient Care Corp.
At this point in time, the defendants are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Additional details have been made available here.