LOUISIANA
The office manager of a home health company at the center of a $50 million fraud scheme in New Orleans was sentenced four years in prison today for participating in the scheme, officials said.
U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance also ordered Joe Ann Murthil, 58, of New Orleans, to pay $14.1 million in restitution, according to officials.
Murthil, Memorial Home Health Inc.’s office manager, assisted with the payment of illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters and submitted claims to Medicare falsely stating that patients were homebound and had received services.
From 2007 through 2014, officials said Memorial and the other companies in this scheme submitted more than $56 million in claims to Medicare, the vast majority of which were fraudulent.
Medicare paid about $50.7 million on these claims, according to officials.
Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,300 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $7 billion, officials stated.
To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go towww.stopmedicarefraud.gov.