Dallas Doctor and Three Dallas-Area Home Health Agency Owners Convicted for Running Large-Scale, Sophisticated Health Care Fraud Scheme

 

DALLAS – Following a six-week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay and less than two days of deliberation, this afternoon a federal jury convicted a Dallas physician and three owners of home health agencies on various felony offenses, including conspiracy to commit health care fraud, stemming from their participation in a nearly $375 million health care fraud scheme involving fraudulent claims for home health services, announced U.S. Attorney John Parker of the Northern District of Texas.

Jacques Roy, M.D., 58, of Rockwall, Texas; Cynthia Stiger, 53, of Dallas; Wilbert James Veasey, Jr., 64, of Dallas; and Charity Eleda, R.N., 55, of Rowlett, Texas, were each convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  In addition, Roy was convicted on eight, Veasey on three and Eleda on four counts of health care fraud.  Roy was also convicted on two counts of making a false statement relating to healthcare matters and one count of obstruction of justice.  Eleda was also convicted on three counts of making false statements for use in determining rights of benefit and payment by Medicare.

“This office will continue to use the most sophisticated techniques available to aggressively prosecute those who, through their fraud, drive up the costs of health care to consumers and tax payers alike,” said U.S. Attorney Parker.  “I applaud the tremendous cooperation among the investigative agencies that brought us to this point.”

Each conspiracy and health care fraud count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.  The obstruction of justice count and each false statement count carry a maximum statutory penalty of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.  Sentencings are set for this fall.

Dr. Roy, who has been in federal custody since his arrest on February 28, 2012, on an indictment that was announced at a press conference in Dallas shortly after it was unsealed that same day, owned/operated Medistat Group Associates, P.A., an association of health care providers who provided home health certifications and performed patient home visits.  Stiger and Veasey, who owned/operated Apple of Your Eye Healthcare Services, Inc., and Eleda, who owned/operated Charry Home Care Services, Inc., were also arrested on charges in that indictment, but were released on bond.

Three other defendants charged in the case, Cyprian Akamnonu and his registered nurse wife, Patricia Akamnonu, both of Cedar Hill, Texas, and Teri Sivils, of Midlothian, Texas, each pleaded guilty before trial to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  Cyprian and Patricia Akamnonu, who owned Ultimate Care Home Health Services, Inc., are each currently serving a ten-year federal prison sentence.  They were also ordered to pay $25 million in restitution.  Sivils, who was the office manager at Medistat, pleaded guilty in April 2015, and is scheduled to be sentenced in June 2016.

The government presented evidence at trial that Dr. Roy, Stiger, Veasey and Eleda engaged in a large-scale, sophisticated health care fraud scheme in which they conspired together and with others to defraud Medicare and Medicaid through companies they owned/controlled:  Medistat Group Associates, P.A., Apple of Your Eye Health Care Services, Inc., Ultimate Care Home Health Services and Charry Home Care Services.

As part of the conspiracy, Stiger, Veasey and Eleda, along with others, improperly recruited individuals with Medicare coverage to sign up for Medicare home health care services.  Eleda recruited patients from The Bridge homeless shelter in Dallas, sometimes paying recruiters $50 per beneficiary they found and directed to her vehicle parked outside the shelter’s gates.  Eleda and other nurses would falsify medical documents to make it appear as though those beneficiaries qualified for home health care services that were not medically necessary.  Eleda and the nurses prepared Plans of Care (POC), also known as 485’s, which were not medically necessary, and these POCs were delivered to Dr. Roy or another physician working under his direction at Medistat.

Dr. Roy instructed his staff to certify these POCs, which indicated to Medicare and Medicaid that a doctor, typically Dr. Roy, had reviewed the treatment plan and deemed it medically necessary.  That certifying doctor, typically Dr. Roy, certified that the patient required home health services, which were only permitted to be provided to those individuals who were homebound and required, among other things, skilled nursing.  This process was repeated for thousands of POCs, and, in fact, Medistat’s office included a “485 Department,” essentially a “boiler room” to affix fraudulent signatures and certifications.

Once an individual was certified for home health care services, Eleda, nurses who worked for Stiger and Veasey, and other nurses falsified visit notes to make it appear as though skilled nursing services were being provided and continued to be necessary.  Dr. Roy would also visit the patients, perform unnecessary home visits, and then order unnecessary medical services for the recruited beneficiaries.  Then, at Dr. Roy’s instruction, Medistat employees would submit fraudulent claims to Medicare for the certification and recertification of unnecessary home health care services and other unnecessary medical services.

The government presented further evidence at trial that the scope of Dr. Roy’s fraud was massive; Medistat processed and approved POCs for 11,000 unique Medicare beneficiaries from more than 500 different home health agencies.  Dr. Roy entered into formal and informal fraudulent arrangements with Apple, Charry, Ultimate and other home health agencies to ensure his fraudulent business model worked and that he maintained a steady stream of Medicare beneficiaries.

Regarding Dr. Roy’s conviction for obstruction of justice, the government presented evidence that when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) suspended Dr. Roy and Medistat from receiving Medicare payments after June 2, 2011, because of suspected fraud, Dr. Roy sought an “end-run” around the suspension through the use of another company, Medcare House Calls.  Dr. Roy directed the medical providers he employed to be re-credentialed and to bill Medicare under Medcare House Calls, instead of Medistat.  Nonetheless, the money that Medicare paid was circumvented back to Medistat and Dr. Roy.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force supervised by the Criminal Division Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

Assistant U.S. Attorney P.J. Meitl, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Dana and Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham prosecuted the case.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged over 2,300 defendants who collectively have billed the Medicare program for more than $7 billion.  In addition, HHS CMS, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

Source: OIG.HHS.GOV

Leave a Comment