Rene Suarez-Basanta, Medicare Fraud, Florida 2013

Rene Suarez-Basanta, a 67-year-old Medicare beneficiary, has been found guilty of soliciting kickbacks in a home health care case in Florida.

A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida convicted Suarez-Basanta of conspiring to pay and receive kickbacks. The investigation centered around Safe Home Health Care, Inc., a home health agency in Miami that offered and paid kickbacks to obtain beneficiaries as patients for home health services, mostly physical therapy.

The agency used beneficiary information to bill Medicare. Suarez-Basanta, along with co-defendant Marta Gonzalez, were convicted of conspiring to pay and receive kickbacks. Suarez-Basanta is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. before United States District Judge Ursula Ungaro in Miami.

The case is part of a larger investigation that has resulted in the conviction of nine defendants for paying and receiving healthcare kickbacks. The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Morales. Suarez-Basanta and Gonzalez are both Medicare beneficiaries who were recruited as patients by the conspirators at Safe Home Health Care, Inc.

The sentencing of Suarez-Basanta and Gonzalez is set for May 25, 2013, at 10:00 a.m. in Miami. The case highlights the ongoing issue of Medicare fraud and abuse in the healthcare industry.

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