A judge sitting on the bench with focus on the gavel.

The owners of an Illinois home health agency were sentenced to prison last week and ordered to pay more than $8 million in restitution for a Medicare fraud scheme.

The Department of Justice said Patricia Omorogbe, a registered nurse from Lansing, IL, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $6.4 million in restitution. Felix Omorogbe was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.6 million in restitution. 

The couple owned and operated A&Z Home Health Care and Dominion Home Health Care, both located in Lansing, as well as Alliance Home Health Care in Hammond, IN. The pair secretly paid bribes and kickbacks to patient marketers in exchange for referrals of Medicare patients to the companies. The scam spanned nearly a decade, from January 2009 to June 2018.

The Justice Department said Patricia Omorogbe maintained relationships with marketers and signed sham contracts with patient marketers on behalf of the companies. It said Felix Omorogbe orchestrated kickback payments to marketers by writing checks to himself and agency employees, who then converted the checks to cash that was used to pay kickbacks to the marketers. Patricia Omorogbe made fraudulent claims to Medicare for home health services that she performed when she was actually out of the country.  

The Biden administration has been cracking down on Medicare fraud in the  healthcare industry. Earlier this month, a Massachusetts home health owner pleaded guilty to a $100 million kickback scheme. In July, the Justice Department charged 36 people in a massive $1.2 billion scheme to fraudulently charge Medicare for telemedicine, genetic testing and cardiovascular equipment. 

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The Department of Justice said Patricia Omorogbe, a registered nurse from Lansing, IL, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay more than $6.4 million in restitution. Felix Omorogbe was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.6 million in restitution. 

The couple owned and operated A&Z Home Health Care and Dominion Home Health Care, both located in Lansing, as well as Alliance Home Health Care in Hammond, IN. The pair secretly paid bribes and kickbacks to patient marketers in exchange for referrals of Medicare patients to the companies. The scam spanned nearly a decade, from January 2009 to June 2018.

The Justice Department said Patricia Omorogbe maintained relationships with marketers and signed sham contracts with patient marketers on behalf of the companies. It said Felix Omorogbe orchestrated kickback payments to marketers by writing checks to himself and agency employees, who then converted the checks to cash that was used to pay kickbacks to the marketers. Patricia Omorogbe made fraudulent claims to Medicare for home health services that she performed when she was actually out of the country.  

The Biden administration has been cracking down on Medicare fraud in the  healthcare industry. Earlier this month, a Massachusetts home health owner pleaded guilty to a $100 million kickback scheme. In July, the Justice Department charged 36 people in a massive $1.2 billion scheme to fraudulently charge Medicare for telemedicine, genetic testing and cardiovascular equipment.