Muhammad “Shib” Ahmad, Health Care Fraud, Michigan 2008

In a shocking case of health care fraud, Muhammad “Shib” Ahmad, a 33-year-old Detroit-area resident, pleaded guilty to his role in organizing a massive Medicare scam. Ahmad and his co-conspirators bilked Medicare out of more than $13 million between July 2008 and September 2011.

The scheme involved three Detroit-area home health agencies: Physicians Choice Home Health Care LLC, First Care Home Health Care LLC, and Quantum Home Care Inc. Ahmad and his co-conspirators billed Medicare for visits that never occurred, with Medicare paying out more than $12 million to the companies.

According to court documents, Ahmad directed the payment of non-licensed individuals who represented themselves as doctors to Medicare beneficiaries. He also paid and directed medical professionals, including nurses, physical therapists, and physical therapy assistants, to create fictitious patient files to document purported home health services that were never rendered.

Additionally, Ahmad admitted to paying and directing the payment of kickbacks to beneficiary recruiters who obtained Medicare beneficiaries’ information needed to bill Medicare for home health services. The Medicare beneficiaries sometimes pre-signed forms and visit sheets that were later falsified to indicate that they received home health services that they had never received. Other times, the Medicare beneficiaries’ signatures were forged on forms and visit sheets to indicate that they received home health services that were never provided.

Ahmad also incorporated a shell company known as Century Home Care for the purpose of laundering the proceeds of the health care fraud scheme.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the HHS Office of Inspector General and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Muhammad Shib Ahmad, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of money laundering on July 2008.

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