One of the allegations was that Mr. Primero was excluded from Medicare by the Office of Inspector General and should not have been an owner of any of these health care businesses which were billing the Medicare program. When an excluded individual owns the business all monies billed to the program are potentially recoverable. If the government alleges a "sham" owner, there is the potential of alleging the entire business is a fraud since the government would not have approved the application if it knew that one of the "real" owners was excluded by OIG.
In the plea agreement, they admitted that they filed false enrollment documents with Medicare to enable Mr. Primero to operate hospice and home care agencies through nominees despite his prior exclusion from all federal health care programs. Furthermore, they admitted they submitted fraudulent hospice care claims for people who were not terminally ill and did not require hospice care.
Mr. Primero and Mr. Beltran admitted that from January 2012 to July 2017, Mr. Primero, a former medical doctor and owner of Angel Eye Hospice, Vision Home Health Care, and Advent Hospice, all in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Mr. Beltran, Primero’s business partner, which billed $7.1 million to the Medicare program. These were billings and not payments.
In the plea agreement, they admitted that they filed false enrollment documents with Medicare to enable Mr. Primero to operate hospice and home care agencies through nominees despite his prior exclusion from all federal health care programs. Furthermore, they admitted they submitted fraudulent hospice care claims for people who were not terminally ill and did not require hospice care.
Mr. Primero and Mr. Beltran admitted that from January 2012 to July 2017, Mr. Primero, a former medical doctor and owner of Angel Eye Hospice, Vision Home Health Care, and Advent Hospice, all in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Mr. Beltran, Primero’s business partner, which billed $7.1 million to the Medicare program. These were billings and not payments.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon sentenced each defendant to three years of supervised release and ordered them to pay a criminal forfeiture money judgment of $2,492,627.
Attorney Commentary: Both Mr. Primero
and Mr. Beltran were previously convicted in California state court for defrauding
that state’s insurance system in relation to another business named Beltran
House, a residential care facility for disabled adults. Such a conviction is a mandatory exclusion by OIG which then bars the individuals from working or owning any health care business that bills a government program.
Posted by Tracy Green, Esq.
Green and Associates, Attorneys at Law
Posted by Tracy Green, Esq.
Green and Associates, Attorneys at Law
