The November 12, 2015 jury verdict followed a more than four week trial in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia during which Federal prosecutors charged Mr. & Mrs. Bikundi raided the Medicaid program of $80 million through massive and systematic fraud of a four year period and used the proceeds of this fraud to finance a lavish lifestyle, including a million-dollar home, a $140,000 Land Rover, a $120,000 Porsche, and a $75,000 Mercedes Benz.
According to evidence presented at trial, Ms. Bikundi, a former nurse, and her husband owned Global Healthcare, Inc. According to the government's evidence, Ms. Bikundi not entitled to take part in the Medicaid program under her maiden name of Florence Igwacho but concealed that exclusion and fraudulently got approval as a provider by using her married name to apply for participation. Then, the government's evidence showed, she and her husband led a scheme to bill Medicaid for services that never were provided – recruiting others, including family members, into the scam, and creating fraudulent paperwork to hide the illegal activity.
The D.C. Medicaid program is funded jointly by District of Columbia tax dollars and federal tax dollars. Medicaid provides for home care services to be performed by personal care aides, working for eligible home care agencies. Doctors or advanced practice registered nurses must examine beneficiaries and authorize them to receive these services. The aides are to follow a plan of care and assist Medicaid beneficiaries in performing activities of daily living, such as getting in and out of bed, bathing, dressing, keeping track of medication, and so forth.
In 1999, Ms. Bikundi went by her maiden name of Florence Igwacho. In August 1999, the Virginia Board of Nursing revoked the nursing license of Florence Igwacho. In March 2000, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General notified Florence Igwacho in writing that she was excluded from participation in Medicare, Medicaid, and all federal health care programs due to the revocation.
Florence Bikundi subsequently concealed her past – namely, the Medicaid exclusion and the revocation of her nursing license – when she applied for a Medicaid provider number for Global Healthcare in June 2009 using the name of Florence Bikundi. She also used three forged signatures on her Medicaid provider application. Florence Bikundi married Michael Bikundi in September 2009.
From August 2009 through February 2014, Florence and Michael Bikundi used Global HealthCare to carry out a massive fraud, the government's evidence showed. Year after year, the D.C. Medicaid program was billed for personal home health aide services that were not provided to Medicaid beneficiaries. Phony time sheets, patient files and employment files were created. Global Healthcare generated increasing amounts of payments as the years continued, going from roughly $1.35 million in 2009 to $14.27 million in 2011 to $27.16 million in 2013.
According to the government's evidence, the Bikundis used the proceeds to finance a lavish lifestyle. In just over three years, they spent $1.3 million to purchase and renovate a newly built home. They also used the proceeds for a $140,000 Land Rover, a $120,000 Porsche, a $75,000 Mercedes Benz, a $70,000 Cadillac and a $36,000 BMW.
The Bikundis were among 25 people charged in February 2014 after a wide-ranging investigation conducted by the FBI's Washington Field Office; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; the U.S. Secret Service; the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the District of Columbia's Office of the Inspector General; the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation; the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); the Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, Office of Inspector General, Department of Labor; the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Maryland Attorney General's Office with the assistance of the District of Columbia's Department of Health Care Finance and other agencies uncovered what the Justice Department describes as "numerous, separate schemes involving fraud, kickbacks, and false billings in the growing field of home care services for D.C. Medicaid beneficiaries." So far, 23 defendants including Florence Bikundi's son, and Florence Bikundi's two sisters as well as others who worked as personal care aides in the home care industry, patient recruiters who demanded money for access to Medicaid beneficiaries or in other capacities have either pled guilty or been found guilty of charges.
With health care fraud enforcement a key component of the federal government's efforts to bring down health care costs and the continuing success of federal and state health care fraud investigation and enforcement efforts like those already achieved by the Justice Department against the 12 defendants that already pleaded guilty, health care providers providing substance abuse or other treatments reimbursed by federal or state programs should must ensure that their care and billings are appropriately delivered and documented to withstand almost inevitable government scrutiny of their operations and activities.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2015 at 4:18 pm and is filed under Health Care Finance, Health Care Provider, health care reimbursement, Medicaid, Medicare, Uncategorized.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.