Lakewood Ranch companies accused of Medicare fraud

MANATEE -- With the help of a former employee, the U.S. government has filed a Medicare fraud lawsuit against two Lakewood Ranch companies working with home bound patients.

Family Home Health Services, LLC and Family Home Physicians, LLC, which share the same mailing address at 6320 Venture Drive, Suite 205, Lakewood Ranch, have worked hand in hand since 2006 to recruit and certify as many Medicare patients as possible to maximize reimbursements from the government, according to the complaint filed this month.

These allegations were made by former employee Deborah Kantor.

If found guilty, the companies could face a civil penalty of not less than $5,000 and not more than $10,000 plus three times the amount of damages that the government sustains because of the acts, according to the complaint.

Kantor could receive reimbursement for expenses, attorney fees and any money the court deems just.

Kantor was hired to work for Family Home Physicians in October 2012 as a nurse practitioner and was fired in September 2013, the complaint states. She currently lives in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Family Home Health Services, which provides ongoing physician and nurse practitioner services to home bound patients, has 11 locations throughout the state with its headquarters in Lakewood Ranch, according to the complaint.

In the scheme, outlined by Kantor, Medicare patients were first signed up by a Family Home Health Services employee to receive services and then sent to Family Home Physicians for a physician to indiscriminately sign off on the services so that Family Home Health Services could seek reimbursement through Medicare.

Kantor and the government called the scheme, "widespread and orchestrated from the highest levels of the company."

A message seeking comment on the allegations left Wednesday afternoon with Judy Robbins, a vice president at Family Home Health Services, was not returned.

A request for comment left with Nathan C. Zipperian, the attorney for Kantor and the government, was also not returned.

One of the most egregious examples of the companies' aggressive activities to get business were the so called "Balance Programs," the complaint states.

At least once a month, Greg Vossler, Family Home Health Services' balance test voordinator, worked with nurse practitioners and others to recruit patients all over Florida by getting a prospective patient to stand on a gym-like Bosu ball while using the support of a rail, the complaint states. Vossler's laptop computer was hooked up to the ball.

"Vossler would then have the individual close their eyes, click some buttons on his computer and inform them that they were at risk of falls and were recommended for physical therapy," according to the complaint.

According to Kantor, the test was designed to fail. Even she couldn't pass the test.

After failing the test, seniors were coaxed into signing up for Family Home Health Services and then allowed to have free pizza provided by Family Home Health Services, the complaint states.

Kantor also told of events known as "Blitzes" where Matthew Barber, Family Home Health Services' regional manager, would show up unannounced at doctor's offices to introduce Family Home Physicians' nurse practitioners to doctors and patients and to begin building relationships with organizations with the hopes of inducing referrals.

At these Blitzes, patients were "jammed," a word that meant promising prospective patients free treatment, resulting in new patients for Family Home Physicians and Family Home Health Services, according to Kantor.

Kantor also revealed that many of the referral patients that she received from Family Home Health Services were not actually homebound and, thus did not qualify for home health services and that Family Home Health Services did not have the requisite staff to adequately provide the necessary services.

In addition to lacking home bound status, many patients also did not need or want the services offered by Family Home Health Services, Kantor indicated.

Nevertheless, Family Home Health Services signed up these patients, furnished the services, had a Family Home Physicians' doctor or nurse practitioner blindly sign off on the patients' need and proceed to seek reimbursement from government health care programs, the complaint states.

In September 2013, when Kantor stopped referring all of her clients to Family Home Health Services, she was fired, she said.

At the time of the filing, Michele Thomas was the president of the company but an employee on Wednesday indicated Thomas is no longer president.

The complaint indicates that the two companies violated the Anti-Kickback Act, which makes it unlawful to knowingly offer or pay any remuneration, in cash or in kind, in exchange for the referral of any services, including home health services, for which payment is sought from any government health care program, including Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.

During its investigation, the government came to believe that Family Home Health Services and Family Home Physicians were "alter egos" of each other, working as "a joint or single employer."

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 9:33 AM with the headline "Lakewood Ranch companies accused of Medicare fraud ."