Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that the owner of two adult day care centers had been sentenced for his involvement with efforts to defraud Medicare of as much as $3.2 million.
The owner, Glenn English was convicted and will serve eight years in prison and pay $988,529 in restitution. Upon his release, English will serve an additional three years in supervised release.
“The filing of false claims for payment is a blight on the health care system,” Christopher Paulos said. “Individuals taking advantage of a trusting healthcare system exploit people at their most vulnerable and needlessly consume resources that others need.” Mr. Paulos is an attorney with the Levin, Papantonio law firm who practices in the areas of qui tam or whistleblower and False Claims Act litigation.
According to the DOJ, English and his co-defendant, Richard Hogan, through their company New Century, operated an adult day care that billed for psychotherapy services. The facility would service mentally disabled individuals and individuals seeking narcotic drugs. The group would then submit bills to Medicare in their names for services that were never provided. The DOJ, states that the two would entice individuals seeking drugs with promises that they could see a doctor who would prescribe them narcotics, on the condition that they signed up for the facility’s psychotherapy program.
Though the group billed Medicare for $3.28 million in false claims, New Century was only paid $988,529. English is responsible for repaying each cent.
“The story of New Century is a sad one that shows the lengths to which some will go in order to cheat taxpayer dollars from the government,” Mr. Paulos added. “But it is also an example of accountability and punishment that the government will exact against transgressors.”
Joshua is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. You can follow him on Twitter @Joshual33.
