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.

For More Information Or Assistance

If you need assistance reviewing or responding to these or other health care related risk management, compliance, enforcement or management concerns, the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, may be able to help. Vice President of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association, Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section, Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law, and the former Board Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas, Ms. Stamer has more than 26 years of experience advising health industry clients about these and other matters. Her experience includes advising hospitals, nursing home, home health, rehabilitation and other health care providers and health industry clients to establish and administer compliance and risk management policies; prevent, conduct and investigate, and respond to peer review and other quality concerns; and to respond to Board of Medicine, Department of Aging & Disability, Drug Enforcement Agency, OCR Privacy and Civil Rights, Department of Labor, IRS, HHS, DOD and other health care industry investigation, enforcement and other compliance, public policy, regulatory, staffing, and other operations and risk management concerns.  The scribe for the American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits annual agency meeting with the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights,  Ms. Stamer has worked extensively with health care providers, health plans, health care clearinghouses, their business associates, employers, banks and other financial institutions, and others on risk management and compliance with HIPAA and other information privacy and data security rules, investigating and responding to known or suspected breaches, defending investigations or other actions by plaintiffs, OCR and other federal or state agencies, reporting known or suspected violations, business associate and other contracting, commenting or obtaining other clarification of guidance, training and enforcement, and a host of other related concerns.  Her clients include public and private health care providers, health insurers, health plans, technology and other vendors, and others.  In addition to representing and advising these organizations, she also has conducted training on Privacy & The Pandemic for the Association of State & Territorial Health Plans,  as well as  HIPAA, FACTA, PCI, medical confidentiality, insurance confidentiality and other privacy and data security compliance and risk management for  Los Angeles County Health Department, ISSA, HIMMS, the ABA, SHRM, schools, medical societies, government and private health care and health plan organizations, their business associates, trade associations and others.

A popular lecturer and widely published author on health industry concerns, Ms. Stamer continuously advises health industry clients about compliance and internal controls, workforce and medical staff performance, quality, governance, reimbursement, and other risk management and operational matters. Ms. Stamer also publishes and speaks extensively on health and managed care industry regulatory, staffing and human resources, compensation and benefits, technology, public policy, reimbursement and other operations and risk management concerns. Her insights on these and other related matters appear in the Health Care Compliance Association, Atlantic Information Service, Bureau of National Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Modern Health Care, Managed Healthcare, Health Leaders, and a many other national and local publications.  You can get more information about her health industry experience here. If you need assistance responding to concerns about the matters discussed in this publication or other health care concerns, wish to obtain information about arranging for training or presentations by Ms. Stamer, wish to suggest a topic for a future program or update, or wish to request other information or materials, please contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at (214) 452-8297 or via e-mail here.

If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns from Ms. Stamer, see here.

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Other Helpful Resources & Other Information

We hope that this information is useful to you.   If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published on the Coalition for Responsible Health Care Reform electronic publication available here, our electronic Solutions Law Press Health Care Update publication available here, or our HR & Benefits Update electronic publication available here.  You also can get access to information about how you can arrange for training on “Building Your Family’s Health Care Toolkit,”  using the “PlayForLife” resources to organize low-cost wellness programs in your workplace, school, church or other communities, and other process improvement, compliance and other training and other resources for health care providers, employers, health plans, community leaders and others here. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here. You can reach other recent updates and other informative publications and resources.

Examples of some of these recent health care related publications include:

• Practitioners Act Now To Request Review of 2016 Value Modifiers Now
• Civil Rights Settlement Highlights Health Industry Discrimination Risks As OCR Prepares To Broaden Requirements
• Use Free Cyber Security Awareness Month Resources To Boost HIPAA & Other Cyber Security Training & Skills
• NLRB 29 Unfair Labor Practice Charges Against Community Health Systems, Inc. Shows Industry Labor Risks
• OCR’s Proposed Sex & Other Discrimination Rules Spell Headaches & New Risks For Health Care Providers, Insurers & Others
• Feds Charges 8 For Alleged $50M In Bogus Student Substance Abuse Counseling Claims
• 10 Practical Pointers To Use Law To Better Strengthen The Legal Defensibility Of Your Business & Its Leaders
• Check Defensibility Of Policies & Practices Given New HHS/DOJ Joint Disability Law Technical Assistance
• 10 Year Prison Sentence. $8M Civil Settlement Highlight Risks Of Wrongfully Billing Services Performed By Nonphysicians As Physician Services
• New HIPAA Settlement Highlights Internet Applications Safeguards, Whistleblower & Management Oversight Compliance Risks
• McGraw Appointed New OCR Deputy Director
• Tex Docs Urged To Support Medical Board Reforms
• CMS Proposes New Quality Measures, Reporting, Other Changes For FY 2016 Psych Facilities Prospective Payment SYstem Updates
• Great Time To Remind Patients, Employees To Check Their Immunizations Are Up To Date
• CMS Issues Last Call For Comments, Questions On Proposed Medicare Home Health Billing Templates
• HHS Proposes Stage 3 Meaningful Use EHR Incentive Programs & 2015 Edition Health IT Certification Criteria Rules
• Health Care Employer’s Discrimination Triggers Medicare, EEOC Prosecutions
• Former Houston Area DME Owner To Serve 7+ Years, Pay $1.6 M In Restitution For Health Care Fraud
• Community Health Systems Professional Services Corporation & 3 Affiliated NM Hospitals Agree to $75 Million False Claims Act Settlement
• Manage Incentive Compliance
• Columbia to Pay $9 Million Plus To Settle DOJ/HHS False Claims Charges For Submitting Inaccurate Cost Reports and Mischarging Federal Grants
• OIG Warns Pharma Manufacturers to Prevent Copayment Coupon Use for Part D Drug Purchases
• 10/10 Kidney Foundation Professional Symposium Offers 7.5 Hours CME/CEUs
• Parkview Hospital To Pay $800K To Settle HIPAA Charges After Retiring Physician Blows The Whistle
• Whistleblower To Get $17M+ of Omnicare $124M False Claims Settlement
• Keeping Dementia Patients At Home:  New Study Gives Tips
• NHI Says Coordinated Care Can Reduce Disabled’s High ER Use; System Contains Many Barriers To Providing This Care
• Look At Mental Health Care For Part Of The Solution To Prevent A Future Newtown Tragedy
• 13 Employer Tips For Coping With Health Care Reform Now!

©2015 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C. Non-exclusive license to republish granted to Solutions Law Press.  All other rights reserved.

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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.