A Detroit-area physician pleaded guilty last week for his role in a $7 million home health care fraud scheme involving fraudulent documentation provided to several home health agencies in the metro area, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Walayat Khan, 66, of Ypsilanti, Michigan pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud before a U.S. Judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.
Court documents revealed that beginning in January 2009, Dr. Khan and others agreed that he would refer Medicare beneficiaries to Advance Home Health Care Services, Inc.; Perfect Home Health Care Services, LLP; and other Detroit-area home health agencies for medically unnecessary home health services.
Specifically, Khan signed medical documents such as home health care certifications and plans of care for Medicare beneficiaries, in which he falsely certified that they required home health services and that they were under his care.
Advance HHC, Perfect HHC and the other agencies then used Khan’s false documents to support their claims to Medicare for services, such as physical therapy, that were either never rendered or were not medically necessary.
Additionally, in exchange for signing the documents, the DOJ noted Khan received and accepted cash kickbacks and other forms of payment from the home health agency owners. Khan also paid kickbacks to a doctor in exchange for his/her cooperation in falsely certifying patients for home health care that would be billed to Medicare.
Further allegations brought forth by court documents noted Khan also used patient recruiters to recruit Medicare beneficiaries to his practice.
“Dr. Khan and one recruiter agreed that the recruiter would refer Medicare beneficiaries to Dr. Khan in exchange for Dr. Khan writing controlled substance prescriptions for the beneficiaries and paying cash to the recruiter,” stated the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a release.
Another recruiter, it was revealed by the FBI, transported patients to Khan’s medical practice so that he would write the patients medically unnecessary prescriptions for controlled substances, bill Medicare for physician services purportedly provided to the patients, and refer them for medically unnecessary home health care services at Advance HHC, Perfect HHC and other home health care agencies.
In total, Khan’s involvement in the various schemes amassed approximately $6,123,044.28 in fraudulent billings, of which $5,504,733.31 was paid, according to the DOJ.
Sentencing for Khan is scheduled for October 7.
Written by Jason Oliva
