Orange Village Man Sentenced to Two Years in Prison, Ordered to Pay $1.9 Million for Health Care Fraud
| U.S. Attorney’s Office July 19, 2013 |
A man who lives in Orange, Ohio and admitted to overbilling Medicaid and Medicare was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $1.9 million, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Divyesh “David” C. Patel, 40, pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of health care fraud.
“This defendant defrauded the public out of nearly $2 million by forging signatures [and] billing for services that were never provided or were performed by aides with criminal records,” Dettelbach said. “This sentence should send a message to those who would engage in health care fraud that they will end up in prison and stripped of the money they steal.”
Patel and his company, Alpine Nursing Care Inc., located at 4753 Northfield Road, Suite 5, North Randall, Ohio, employed Belita Mable Bush, as the office manager and director of provider services from June 1, 2006 through October 18, 2009, according to court documents.
Patel and Alpine employed Bush to prepare and submit the billings to Medicaid and Medicare for reimbursement for services provided by Alpine as a home health care provider, even though Patel knew that Bush had been previously convicted of a health care-related felony that excluded Bush from being involved in any way with Alpine’s Medicaid and Medicare billings, according to court documents.
In addition to the fact that Bush was excluded from handling Alpine’s medical billings, Patel was aware that Bush falsified documents related to health care services allegedly provided to home health patients where the services were never provided or were provided by home health aide that had previous criminal convictions that excluded them from providing health services in people’s houses, according to court documents.
As a result of the conspiracy, Medicaid and Medicare suffered a loss of more than $1.9 million, according to court documents.
Bush pleaded guilty to making a false statement and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 20.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bennett and Special Assistant General Constance Nearhood, following an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services, Cleveland; Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cleveland.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.