Ezinne Ubani, a nurse in Houston Texas who was involved with the Family Healthcare Group Medicare scam, received a prison sentence of 8 years yesterday.

At Family Healthcare Group, a Texas based in-home care service, Ubani was the head nurse and, as per court records, created reports that she knew to be false, in order to receive payments from Medicare. She was convicted of a single count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

In addition to her Federal Prison Sentence of eight years, Ubani was ordered to preform three years probation after her release and will, along with her co-defendants, be responsible for a fine of over two million dollars. Three other co-defendants are awaiting sentence for their part in the Family Healthcare Group Medicare fraud, with seven already being sentenced.

Family Healthcare Group provided nursing care to Medicare Recipients and, according to prosecutors, provided kickbacks to patient recruiters for supplying them with eligible Medicare recipients. The representatives of Family Healthcare, allegedly, then created fraudulent patient care plans stating the Medicare recipients required in-home health benefits, even though most of the their patients were not actually in need of this type of advanced nursing care.

The business entity was not previously in good standing in regards to their tax obligations.

Yesterday, Michelle Turner was convicted conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to receive illegal kickbacks, as well as two counts of receiving illegal kickbacks. Turner, who is associated with the Family Healthcare durable medical equipment scam in Texas is 44 years old.

The four day trial against Turner follows the sentencing of four other individuals for this Medicare fraud scheme last week.

Prosecutors contended that Turner, who worked as a patient recruiter, setup a call center to cold call Medicare recipients, in an effort to promote arthritis kits provided by Family Healthcare.

According to court records, Family Healthcare was responsible for submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare for durable medical equipment. Their company primarily dealt with what they billed as arthritis kits, which they prescribed to Medicare Patients and had a cost of over three thousand dollars.

However, these kits were typically not medically necessary and did not include equipment that was conducive to treating senior arthritis or other senior health issues. For example, their arthritis kits often included heat pads and orthotic braces for the body.

Family Healthcare was, allegedly, responsible for over a million dollars in Medicare fraud, providing kickbacks to a number of individuals who provided Medicare recipients they could provide their arthritis kits to.

Turner allegedly used teenagers in his call center to make the cold calls to Medicare recipients. Under federal law, unsolicited marketing calls to Medicare recipients is illegal. He faces over 25 years in prison, if his charges were run concurrent.

Turner is the fifth person associated with the Family Healthcar Durable Medical Equipment Scam to be convicted in Federal court.

Four Houston based individuals were sentenced to federal prison this week as part of the ongoing investigation into the Family Healthcare Group Medicare Fraud scam.

Mary Ellis and Caroline Njoku, who are both nurses aged 56 and 46 respectively, were sentenced to over five years in federal prison, as well as fines of over $400,000. Terrie Porter, who is 48, and Florida Holiday Island, who is 62, received 2 years in prison and 20 days in prison respectively, as well as both being responsible for a fine.

Ellis, who was convicted of three counts of receiving illegal kickbacks, conspiracy to pay kickbacks, and conspiracy to commit health care fraud, will need to serve an additional 3 years of probation after she completes her sentence.

Caroline Njoku, who was convicted of conspiracy to pay kickbacks and conspiracy to commit health care fraud, will need to serve a single year of probation after release, but was fined almost $650,000.

Porter, who was fined almost $500,000 will serve two years of probation after release. Island, who was only given 20 days in prison, was fined around $60,000 and must serve five months of house arrest, as well as 2.5 years of probation. She was convicted of receiving illegal kickbacks and conspiracy to receive kickbacks.

According to court records, Family Healthcare Group, which is a skilled nursing provider in Houston Texas, provided kickbacks to the defendants for providing Medicare account information of patients, who were then billed for nursing services that were not preformed or not required for medical reasons. The defendants allegedly submitted bills to Medicare and prescribed patient treatment plans that stated the Medicare recipients were in need of special in-home nursing assistance.

Both Njoku and Ellis, as indicated by evidence submitted during their trial, were responsible for falsifying the treatment plans.

In total around $5 Million in fraudulent billing is attributed to this fraud. In addition to the defendants above, two other defendants, including another nurse, have already been sentenced, with four additional defendants scheduled for trial.

About Family Healthcare Group

According to public records, Family Healthcare Group, INC. was registered in 2004 in Houston Texas. As of February 18, 2012 public records indicate they have not satisfied state franchise tax requirements and, as a result, is not in good standing with the State.

Both the director and chief executive are listed as Princewill Njoku, who it would stand to reason is related to Caroline Njoku, the nurse convicted in this case.