Policy & Regulation News

Feb. 27: Week That Was in Healthcare Fraud and Malpractice

By Jacqueline DiChiara

- Here is a general roundup of the past week’s developments in healthcare fraud and malpractice, as reported by the Department of Justice. The crimes reported below result in multiple millions of dollars in healthcare fraud and the possibility of extensive prison time.

Psychologist commits $1.5 million in Medicare fraud

Bryce Woods, 37, and his employee Keenan R. Ferrell, 55, face a $1.5 million Medicare fraud case for submitting false claims for psychotherapy services performed for Medicare beneficiaries in skilled nursing homes in Chicago.

Ferrell, the owner and operator of Take Action, Inc. and Inner Arts, Inc. and Woods were each convicted of six counts of healthcare fraud and submitting false claims over a five-year period.

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  • In addition to allegedly billing for deceased patients, Woods also billed patients for visits that had never been performed. Woods filed over 30,000 separate Medicare claims.

    One-on-one psychology sessions at various skilled nursing facilities that were supposed to be provided by Ferrell were actually conducted by recruited psychology graduate students or others who performed entirely unsupervised services. Ferrell was not physically present to supervise nursing home therapy sessions.

    Woods and Ferrell will serve two-year terms of supervised release. They will pay $1,525,496 in restitution. Woods was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison.

    Doctor offers narcotics to FBI agent for sexual favors

    William J. O’Brien III, 49, and his receptionist, Angela Rongione, 29, were charged in a $1.8 million cash-only scheme in Pennsylvania by Superseding Indictment with 23 additional counts of illegally distributing Schedule II and Schedule IV controlled substances beyond the accepted confines of professional practice and without legitimate medical purpose.

    A doctor of osteopathic medicine, O’Brien charged patients $250 cash for an initial appointment to purchase a prescription and $200 for an appointment to acquire a prescription refill. O’Brien did not require medical examinations or medical care to garner any prescriptions.

    O’Brien also allegedly fabricated medical records for physical examinations and medical treatments he had never administered.

    O’Brien was charged with 26 separate counts of illegally distributing Oxycodone and Xanax.

    O’Brien also attempted to sell prescriptions for Oxycodone and Xanax to a government cooperator and an undercover FBI agent.   O’Brien asked the FBI agent to perform sexual acts in exchange for higher doses of narcotics, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reports.

    If convicted, O’Brien and Rogione face a combined 45 years in prison.

    $5 million fraud scheme

    Angel M. Mirabel, 62, pleaded guilty in Florida to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and healthcare fraud.

    Mirabel and co-conspirators operated Houston-based Quick Solutions Medical Supplies Inc., a durable medical equipment (DME) supply company to bill Medicare for expensive, medically unnecessary DME that was often not provided to Medicare beneficiaries since most resided hundreds of miles away.

    Quick Solutions submitted $5 million in fraudulent claims with Medicare paying $587,000.

    A May sentencing hearing is scheduled.