Joe Ann Murthil, $50 Million Medicare Fraud, Louisiana 2014

Joe Ann Murthil, the 58-year-old office manager of Memorial Home Health Inc. in New Orleans, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for her role in a $50 million Medicare fraud scheme.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell, U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite, Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey S. Sallet, Special Agent in Charge CJ Porter, and the Louisiana Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit announced the sentencing on [no date provided].

Murthil, who worked for Memorial Home Health Inc., assisted in the payment of illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters and submitted false claims to Medicare stating that patients were homebound and received services.

Between 2007 and 2014, Memorial and other companies in the scheme submitted more than $56 million in claims to Medicare, with the vast majority being fraudulent. Medicare paid approximately $50.7 million on these claims.

Murthil was ordered to pay $14,147,275 in restitution as part of her sentence.

The case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, and the Louisiana Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys William Kanellis and Antonio Pozos.

The Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which operates in nine cities across the country, has charged nearly 2,300 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for over $7 billion since its inception in March 2007.

In related news, HHS' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is working to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/new-orleans-office-manager-sentenced-role-50-million-fraud-scheme