The Miami Herald: Miami-Dade couple indicted on charges of conspiring to commit home health care Medicare fraud, money laundering
For the U.S. Government's official Medicare guide on to how to select a legitimate home health care agency, click here. A Family Member HomeCare of Hollywood, Florida is accredited by the Joint Commission, as well as licensed by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and has full credentials with quality caregivers who are bonded and insured.
Miami-Dade couple indicted on charges of conspiring to commit health care Medicare fraud, money laundering
By Jay Weaver, The Miami Herald
9:42 PM EDT, July 27, 2011
There is life after prison — in the Medicare rackets.
Consider Luis Alejandro Sanz, who served five years for cocaine smuggling and money laundering in the 1990s. He reinvented himself by opening a Miami-Dade home health-care agency that authorities say billed Medicare more than $11 million to treat purported diabetics who, it turned out, didn't really have the disease or need nurses to inject their insulin.
Medicare paid his home care agency more than $7 million. To cover up his management role, prosecutors say, Sanz made his wife, Elizabeth Acosta Sanz, the sole corporate officer of Ideal Home Health.
On Tuesday, the 57-year-old Sanz and 44-year-old wife were indicted on charges of conspiring to commit health care fraud, money laundering and paying kickbacks to recruiters who prosecutors say supplied Medicare patients to the couple's agency between 2006 and 2009. The Sanzes are scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
Sanz's reinvention as a Medicare entrepreneur is nothing new for freed felons. The federal program claims it regularly conducts criminal background checks on Medicare operators and has disqualified felons as a result, but many have slipped through the system.
"Medicare contractors are supposed to be responsible for enrollment and screening applicants, but the process is broken and ineffective," said Ryan Stumphauzer, a former federal prosecutor who ran the health care fraud section in the Miami U.S. attorney's office and now heads his own firm.
"Felons and crooks can get as many provider numbers as they want by recruiting nominees or family members to sign documents," he said. "The nominees know absolutely nothing about Medicare, have no experience in healthcare, and couldn't pass the simplest blush test. They are never even interviewed or screened in a meaningful way."
In recent months, the taxpayer-funded Medicare program adopted new measures designed to combat the failed "pay and chase" model of doling out dollars for claims, then pursuing the schemers after they have run off with the money. As part of the new Affordable Care Act, Medicare received $350 million to develop stricter screening of healthcare providers and more sophisticated software for detecting fraudulent claims.
Among the improvements: Providers who historically have posed a higher risk of fraud, such as medical equipment suppliers and home care services, must now undergo more comprehensive screenings, including FBI criminal background checks and fingerprinting.
Also, if Medicare contractors receive a "credible" allegation of fraud from a patient, payments to a provider can temporarily be suspended while an investigation is done. New enrollment can also be temporarily halted in a healthcare area suspected of fraud.
The Sanzes' alleged Medicare scheme was deemed so serious that U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick White denied their bids for bond Tuesday while they await trial, saying they are a risk of flight.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Bernstein argued that the couple's home care agency issued Luis Sanz checks totaling $1.5 million, and another $1.5 million to DASA Investments, of which he was president. Sanz's wife received an additional $1.65 million, he said. She is being detained before trial, too.
Bernstein said the couple and their agency, Ideal, "had 40 separate bank accounts, and at the present time the government has not been able to trace all of the monies that this defendant and the co-defendant received," according to Luis Sanz's detention order.
Their attorney, Jay Moskowitz, said they were arrested by the FBI a month ago and knew the indictment was imminent. "We are dealing with the case," he said, declining to comment further.
Sanz was convicted in 1996 as part of a 20-member cocaine trafficking ring.
For more information about a Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County home health care agency for seniors and other family members, contact Brian Gauthier at A Family Member HomeCare (954) 986-5090 or www.afamilymemberhomecare.com. Serving Coconut Creek Cooper City Coral Springs Dania Beach Davie Deerfield Beach Fort Lauderdale Hallandale Beach, Hillsboro Beach Hollywood Lauderdale Lakes Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Lauderhill Lazy Lake Lighthouse Point Margate Miramar North Lauderdale Oakland Park Parkland Pembroke Park Pembroke Pines Plantation Pompano Beach Sea Ranch Lakes Southwest Ranches Sunrise Tamarac Weston Wilton Manors Aventura Sunny Isles Beach Hialeah Miami Lakes Boca Raton Delray Beach Home health care agencies home health care agency home health care services in home health care senior home health care home health care providers health care agency home health care jobs at home health care home health care agencies in florida home health care florida medicare home health care health care agencies home health care elderly home health agency home health care service home care agencies home health care companies home health care agency florida private home health care home health agencies elderly home health care home care agency what is home health care home health care agencies in broward county home health services home health care cost accessible home health care florida home health care home health aide agencies in home health care services home health care business home health aide home health care nursing home health care provider home health care employment in home health care jobs home health aide jobs home health aides home health care medicare in home health care agencies home health care seniors. We work with all South Florida hospitals and rehabilitation clinics to ensure safe transitions to in-home health care and provide attendants, caregivers, certified nursing assistants (CNA), companions, HHAs, homemakers. Providing homecare in Miami-Dade County, Broward County and Palm Beach County Member of Society of Certified Senior Advisors, National Association for HomeCare and Hospice; Home Care Association of Florida; American College of HealthCare Executives, Volunteer Broward, Hospice by the Sea, Rotary Club of Fort Lauderdale, Joseph Meyerhoff Senior Center, HomeHealthCompare, home health advance beneficiary notice, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration
Miami-Dade couple indicted on charges of conspiring to commit health care Medicare fraud, money laundering
By Jay Weaver, The Miami Herald
9:42 PM EDT, July 27, 2011
There is life after prison — in the Medicare rackets.
Consider Luis Alejandro Sanz, who served five years for cocaine smuggling and money laundering in the 1990s. He reinvented himself by opening a Miami-Dade home health-care agency that authorities say billed Medicare more than $11 million to treat purported diabetics who, it turned out, didn't really have the disease or need nurses to inject their insulin.
Medicare paid his home care agency more than $7 million. To cover up his management role, prosecutors say, Sanz made his wife, Elizabeth Acosta Sanz, the sole corporate officer of Ideal Home Health.
On Tuesday, the 57-year-old Sanz and 44-year-old wife were indicted on charges of conspiring to commit health care fraud, money laundering and paying kickbacks to recruiters who prosecutors say supplied Medicare patients to the couple's agency between 2006 and 2009. The Sanzes are scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
Sanz's reinvention as a Medicare entrepreneur is nothing new for freed felons. The federal program claims it regularly conducts criminal background checks on Medicare operators and has disqualified felons as a result, but many have slipped through the system.
"Medicare contractors are supposed to be responsible for enrollment and screening applicants, but the process is broken and ineffective," said Ryan Stumphauzer, a former federal prosecutor who ran the health care fraud section in the Miami U.S. attorney's office and now heads his own firm.
"Felons and crooks can get as many provider numbers as they want by recruiting nominees or family members to sign documents," he said. "The nominees know absolutely nothing about Medicare, have no experience in healthcare, and couldn't pass the simplest blush test. They are never even interviewed or screened in a meaningful way."
In recent months, the taxpayer-funded Medicare program adopted new measures designed to combat the failed "pay and chase" model of doling out dollars for claims, then pursuing the schemers after they have run off with the money. As part of the new Affordable Care Act, Medicare received $350 million to develop stricter screening of healthcare providers and more sophisticated software for detecting fraudulent claims.
Among the improvements: Providers who historically have posed a higher risk of fraud, such as medical equipment suppliers and home care services, must now undergo more comprehensive screenings, including FBI criminal background checks and fingerprinting.
Also, if Medicare contractors receive a "credible" allegation of fraud from a patient, payments to a provider can temporarily be suspended while an investigation is done. New enrollment can also be temporarily halted in a healthcare area suspected of fraud.
The Sanzes' alleged Medicare scheme was deemed so serious that U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick White denied their bids for bond Tuesday while they await trial, saying they are a risk of flight.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Bernstein argued that the couple's home care agency issued Luis Sanz checks totaling $1.5 million, and another $1.5 million to DASA Investments, of which he was president. Sanz's wife received an additional $1.65 million, he said. She is being detained before trial, too.
Bernstein said the couple and their agency, Ideal, "had 40 separate bank accounts, and at the present time the government has not been able to trace all of the monies that this defendant and the co-defendant received," according to Luis Sanz's detention order.
Their attorney, Jay Moskowitz, said they were arrested by the FBI a month ago and knew the indictment was imminent. "We are dealing with the case," he said, declining to comment further.
Sanz was convicted in 1996 as part of a 20-member cocaine trafficking ring.
For more information about a Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County home health care agency for seniors and other family members, contact Brian Gauthier at A Family Member HomeCare (954) 986-5090 or www.afamilymemberhomecare.com. Serving Coconut Creek Cooper City Coral Springs Dania Beach Davie Deerfield Beach Fort Lauderdale Hallandale Beach, Hillsboro Beach Hollywood Lauderdale Lakes Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Lauderhill Lazy Lake Lighthouse Point Margate Miramar North Lauderdale Oakland Park Parkland Pembroke Park Pembroke Pines Plantation Pompano Beach Sea Ranch Lakes Southwest Ranches Sunrise Tamarac Weston Wilton Manors Aventura Sunny Isles Beach Hialeah Miami Lakes Boca Raton Delray Beach Home health care agencies home health care agency home health care services in home health care senior home health care home health care providers health care agency home health care jobs at home health care home health care agencies in florida home health care florida medicare home health care health care agencies home health care elderly home health agency home health care service home care agencies home health care companies home health care agency florida private home health care home health agencies elderly home health care home care agency what is home health care home health care agencies in broward county home health services home health care cost accessible home health care florida home health care home health aide agencies in home health care services home health care business home health aide home health care nursing home health care provider home health care employment in home health care jobs home health aide jobs home health aides home health care medicare in home health care agencies home health care seniors. We work with all South Florida hospitals and rehabilitation clinics to ensure safe transitions to in-home health care and provide attendants, caregivers, certified nursing assistants (CNA), companions, HHAs, homemakers. Providing homecare in Miami-Dade County, Broward County and Palm Beach County Member of Society of Certified Senior Advisors, National Association for HomeCare and Hospice; Home Care Association of Florida; American College of HealthCare Executives, Volunteer Broward, Hospice by the Sea, Rotary Club of Fort Lauderdale, Joseph Meyerhoff Senior Center, HomeHealthCompare, home health advance beneficiary notice, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration
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