Posted on 04/02/2016 2:42:29 PM PDT by Kaslin
Five individuals who have donated to Democratic politicians pleaded guilty to a scheme that drained Medicare out of $33 million dollars.
Two physicians and three owners of hospice and home care companies based out of Detroit, Mich., were charged on June 18, 2015 as part of the largest Medicare fraud case in history for submitting fraudulent claims for home health care and hospice services that were either not provided or deemed medically unnecessary.
The elaborate operation revolved around Muhammad Tariq, Shahid Tahir, and Manawar Javed—the owners of the home health care and hospice companies—paying kickbacks and bribes to physicians for referrals to their companies that included A Plus Hospice and Palliative Care, At Home Hospice, and At Home Network Inc.
Wasseem Alam, a physician who was the top referrer to the companies, admitted he was responsible for millions in Medicare reimbursements and said he received kickbacks, along with other inducements, in exchange for those referrals.
“Alam bribed his patients into accepting services from At Home Network by providing them with medically unnecessary controlled substance prescriptions both personally and through unlicensed individuals, he admitted,” the Justice Department said. “Co-owner Tariq admitted that he knew about Alam’s controlled substances bribes to patients. Alam also instructed others to falsify patient files to hide the fact that the prescriptions were medically unnecessary, according to his plea agreement.”
Hatem Ataya, a physician who was the second highest referrer to the At Home Network and the top referrer to At Home Hospice, also admitted to accepting kickbacks for his referrals.
“Ataya also admitted that the Tahir-associated companies would submit false billing based on his referrals for purported home health and hospice services, when, at times, these services were neither medically necessary nor provided,” the Justice Department said.
Ataya was separately charged last year in connection with the death of three patients and hit with three counts of delivering a controlled substance and another three counts of delivering a controlled substance causing death, according to WNEM TV in Flint, Michigan.
Tariq, Tahir, and Javed pleaded guilty to one count to commit health care fraud and wire fraud.
Alam and Ateya both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, while Alam additionally pleaded guilty to one count of structuring.
All five individuals have combined to give tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic politicians.
Shahid Tahir, one of the owners of the companies, has made 63 contributions totaling at least $33,000 to Democratic politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Reps. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) and Gary Peters (D., Mich.), among many others.
Muhammed Tariq, another owner, added five donations to Democratic politicians including the likes of John Edwards and Reps. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) and Bobby McKenzie (D., Mich.). Tariq contributed $2,000 to Democrats throughout the years.
Manawar Javed, the third owner, made two contributions to Democrats that totaled $750.
The first physician involved in the scheme, Waseem Alam, made $3,250 worth of donations that included a $1,000 contribution to both Hillary Clinton and Rep. Stabenow.
Hatem Ateya, the second physician, made four separate donations to Democrats that came to $2,500.
Together, they have donated more than $40,000 to Democratic politicians nationwide, compared to just $2,000 to Republicans within Michigan.
The group was initially caught last year during a nationwide sweep led by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
The sweep resulted in charges against 243 individuals including 46 doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals for $712 million in false billings—the largest Medicare fraud bust in history.
Requests for comment were not returned.
The names sound Muslim.
Thanks for posting this article.
anybody know what the “estimated” amount of fraud is?
10s of billions? more?
I have to go look at the medicare budget for a year.
With those surnames, looks like the Council for American Islamic affairs probably was skimming with them, and sending it to ISIS.
It’s no more than us paying the jizyah. Move along, Obama has more to do. Nothing will happen to these protected class individuals.
I didn’t notice too many Irish Catholic names in the article.
The investigation must have been racist. Or _____phobic. Or some kind of bigotry going on.
So they plead guilty to ONE count each. I wonder what the penalty will be.
In Oregon, they were going after a whistleblower for releasing Gov. Kitzhaber’s emails, charging him with a crime for each email. There were 6,000 of them! Happily, they backed off, but it’s interesting how Dems or Dem allies always get off light when compared with ‘others’.
But our top story -- after 120 years of nearly entirely Democratic Party political machinery running the city of Flint, Governor Rick Snyder continues to be blamed for some lead in the water supply.
I’d say about 50% is needless, tests you don’t need procedures that don’t do anything to improve life. Hospice that takes their vitals 2 times a week for 4K a month. You receive invoices from specialists 2K miles away for x-rays that didn’t need reading. You receive invoices for a full year after the patient for a year after the patient has died, like 30 Dr.s for 2 emergency rooms, one of which did absolutely nothing but put the patient on a helicopter against our wishes, that was 60K for 100 miles. I could go on....
wow
Yes, it is sickening, I think the worse thing that can happen at end of life is to have Cadillac insurance,
My SIL went to the hospital for food poisoning and they did 20K in tests, put her on oxygen that she didn’t need.
jizah...reparations...what’s the diff???
All these societal degenerates feel the rest of us owe them a living.
I spent three days in a hospital because a doctors office AFFILIATED with the hospital found possible “cancer” in my lungs.
the x ray was fluke as 3 x rays later proved. but they still got thousands for my stay!!
contributions to Democratic politicians such as Hillary Clinton and Reps. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) and Gary Peters (D., Mich.), among many others.
We need to put these scammers on notice: We want our money back!
Also, they must denounce this activity and promise not to ever take money from fraudsters, ever again. ha, ha!
Yeah, I’ve never heard of Christians named Muhammad, Shahid, Manawar, Wasseem, Hatem. But then Keith Ellison is a Muslim too.
This is good, but not very current:
“... Were charged on June 18, 2015...”
1) Usual and customary is one criteria that results in the most expensive and rare becoming usual and customary.
2) CMS, like any bureaucracy, lives in the past. They require diagnosis, treatment, IT systems, etc all based on outdated technology.
3) CMS requires inefficiencies.
4) Defensive med to avoid lawsuits becomes usual and customary for obvious reasons.
bkmk
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.