U.S. Intervenes in Medicare Fraud Suit Against Fla. Home Health Provider
The government will intervene in a whistleblower lawsuit against Florida-based A Plus Home Health Care, Inc. and its owner, Tracy Nemerofsky, the U.S. Department of Justice announced last month. A Plus allegedly offered referring physicians’ spouses sham marketing positions with the company to induce the physicians to refer Medicare patients for its home health care services.
The government alleges that, beginning in 2006, A Plus engaged in a scheme to increase Medicare referrals by hiring at least seven physicians’ spouses and one physician’s boyfriend to perform marketing duties but required them to perform few, if any, actual job duties. The spouses’ and boyfriend’s salaries were allegedly an inducement and reward for the physicians’ referrals of Medicare patients to A Plus. To cover up the scheme, the government alleges, Ms. Nemerofsky generated sham personnel files, which included lists of job duties that the spouses and boyfriend never performed, and performance reviews of tasks the spouses and boyfriend never completed, to give the false impression that the spouses and boyfriend were legitimate employees.
The lawsuit was originally filed by William Guthrie, a former A Plus director of development, under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. The False Claims Act allows private citizens with knowledge of fraud against the government to sue on behalf of the government and share in the recovery. The government may then choose to intervene, as it elected to do in this case.
The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments. We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud. Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.