California Inland Empire $4.2 Million Billing Scheme

Attorney General Bob Bonta

To view the article as published on 02/24/22, click here

Sixteen people, including two doctors, have been charged with felonies after the state Attorney General’s Office said it uncovered a scheme in which people who were not terminally ill were enrolled in expensive hospice care without their knowledge by two Inland Empire treatment facilities that fraudulently billed Medicare for millions of dollars.

New Hope Hospice and Sterling Hospice Care have been shut down, Attorney General Rob Bonta said at a news conference on Thursday, Feb. 24, outside San Bernardino County Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga.

The loss to Medicare and Medi-Cal from 2015 to 2021 was $4.2 million, Bonta said. Charges include conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, identity theft, grand theft, money laundering and tax evasion. Two suspects were still at large Thursday.

The defendants could face up to 27 years in prison if convicted as charged, Bonta said.

Novus Health Clinicians Sentenced to Combined 23 Years in Prison for Hospice Fraud

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Judge Lynn

By Jim Parker

Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn has sentenced Novus Health Services Medical Directors Mark E. Gibbs, M.D., and Laila Hirjee, M.D., along with one of the company’s nurses, Tammie Little, to a combined 23 years in prison following their convictions for hospice fraud exceeding $40 million.

Gibbs was sentenced to 13 years as well as paying restitution of nearly $28 million. Hirjee received 10 years in prison and must pay more than $16 million. The judge also sentenced Little to a 33 month incarceration.

The company’s CEO Bradley Harris was also convicted in the case. He agreed to a plea deal, pled guilty and testified against his former employees, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Lockdowns Result in Deaths of Isolation

"Is this the rest of my life? If so, I don't want to go on."

This is one of the many heartbreaking questions asked of Dr. Louise Aronson, a geriatric doctor from San Francisco, who works with elderly patients who are stuck in isolation....

"Sometimes the doors to their rooms are open, and you just see someone sitting in a chair with tears running down their face," Aronson said, according to NBC News. Chester Peske, a resident of a long-term care facility in Minnesota, contracted COVID-19, and though he was asymptomatic, he died shortly thereafter. His death wasn't due to the virus, however. The cause of death was listed as "social isolation/failure to thrive related to COVID-19 restrictions" in combination with his progressing Alzheimer's disease...

To read full article, click here.

Slow Euthanasia: No One to Blame for Andrew Cuomo Putting 6,000+ Coronavirus Patients in Nursing Homes

 by Daniel Greenfield.

"Hi Bob, got a question for you."

"Yes, Andy."

"How many thousands of nursing home patients can you kill before it impedes your presidential chances?"

Marsha Joiner to Interview Michelle Young Doers

Tomorrow night on the Betrayed by Hospice show, Marsha Joiner interviews Michelle Young Doers, RRT Registered Respiratory Therapist and author of Killing for Profit: The Dark Side of Hospice, available at this link.

Dial 917-388-4520 or listen live on the internet. 5 p.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Mountain, 7 p.m. Central, 8 p.m. Eastern Time Zones

Michelle writes this heartfelt book from deep within the trenches of what she witnessed first-hand while working for hospice, caring for patients at the end of their life. She saw a business model of cutting corners, making promises that would never be kept and placing the bottom line of the accountants ahead of the care for the patient.

New Office of Inspector General Report: Hospice Deficiencies Pose Risks to Medicare Beneficiaries

WHY WE DID THIS STUDY  

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has identified significant vulnerabilities in the Medicare hospice benefit and found that hospices did not always provide needed services to beneficiaries and sometimes provided poor quality care.  Click here to view report.

Palliative Care/Euthanasia Bill Moving

By Margaret Dore, Esq. (updated 12/10/19)

On January 17, 2019, the "Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act" was introduced in the 116th Congress as H.R. 647 and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. No text was provided.

The Congressional website has since been updated with the posting of a complete bill, which is nearly identical to last session's H.R. 1676, as amended. (The companion bill was S. 693).

If enacted, the new bill, H.R. 647, will undermine the Office of the Inspector General's mission to combat Medicare and Medicaid fraud concerning the federal hospice benefit. See for example, this link concerning last session's bills https://www.choiceillusionendtheabuse.org/2018/10/memo-to-us-senate-help-committee-vote.html#more