Saturday, August 22, 2009

Former Owner of Atenas Medical Equipment, Inc. Arrested on Health Care Fraud Charges In Miami


As discussed before here, the number of health care fraud indictments and prosecutions continue to increase for all types of health care providers. In addition, in this particular medical supply case it took the government two years from the time the business ceased billing Medicare to obtain an indictment.

On August 21, 2009, Maria A. Aloise, the former owner of Atenas Medical Equipment, Inc. was arrested and had her initial appearance in Miami federal court. A detention hearing has been set for August 24, 2009.

On August 20, 2009, a federal grand jury in Miami returned an eleven-count Indictment charging Ms. Aloise with health care fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1347. According to the Indictment, Ms. Aloise was the owner of Atenas Medical Equipment, Inc., a Hialeah-based company that purportedly provided durable medical equipment (“DME”) to Medicare beneficiaries. From June 8, 2005, through April 4, 2007, Atenas Medical Equipment is alleged to have submitted approximately $1,421,346 in fraudulent claims to Medicare seeking reimbursement for DME items, such as oxygen concentrators and hospital beds, that had not been prescribed by physicians nor provided to Medicare beneficiaries.

An indictment is only an accusation is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, Aloise faces a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment on each of the health care fraud counts.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov/.

Attorney Commentary: Some businesses and individuals fail to understand that the government prosecutors work on old history and the fact that a business is closed, changed its practices or stopped billing Medicare will not prevent an investigation or prosecution from going forward. One of the goals of the government recently has been to lower the loss thresholds for prosecution and ensure that providers have a felony conviction and will be unable to participate in any government funded health programs in the future.

Posted by Tracy Green, Esq. Please email Ms. Green at tgreen@greenassoc.com or call her at 213-233-2260 to schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation.  Ms. Green's office at Green and Associates is located in Los Angeles, California. Tracy Green, is a very experienced California health care fraud attorney, California Durable Medical Equipment attorney, and California DME attorney.

The firm focuses its practice on the representation of licensed professionals, individuals and businesses in civil, business, administrative and criminal proceedings. They have a specialty in representing licensed health care providers and in health care fraud related matters in California and throughout the country. Their website is: http://www.greenassoc.com/

DISCLAIMER

DISCLAIMER: Green & Associates' articles and blog postings are prepared as a service to the public and are not intended to grant rights or impose obligations. Nothing in this website should be construed as legal advice. Green & Associates' articles and blog postings may contain references or links to statutes, regulations, or other policy materials. The information provided is only intended to be a general summary. It is not intended to take the place of either the written law or regulations. We encourage readers to review the specific statutes, regulations, and other interpretive materials for a full and accurate statement of their contents and contact their attorney for legal advice. The primary purpose of this website is not the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service and this website is not an advertisement or solicitation. Anyone viewing this web site in a state where the web site fails to comply with all laws and ethical rules of that state, should disregard this web site.

The information provided on this website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to create, and does not create, a lawyer-client relationship with Green & Associates, Attorneys at Law. Sending an e-mail to Tracy Green does not contractually obligate them to represent you as your lawyer, or create any type of client relationship. No attorney-client relationship will be formed absent a written engagement or retainer letter agreement signed by both Green & Associates and client and which specifies the scope of the engagement.

Please note that e-mail transmission is not secure unless it is encrypted. E-mail messages sent to Ms. Green should not include confidential or sensitive information.