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8 Nurses Heading to Prison for Medicare Fraud

John Commins, for HealthLeaders Media, February 8, 2011

Eight Miami-area nurses were sentenced to prison and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution after pleading guilty to their role in an $18.7 million Medicare home healthcare fraud scheme, the Department of Justice said.

The nurses were originally indicted in July 2010, along with Jorge Dieppa, MD, who awaits trial on charges of healthcare fraud, and making false statements related to Medicare payments.

According to prosecutors, the Miami-based healthcare agencies ABC Home Health Inc. and Florida Home Health Care Providers Inc. were owned by the nurses, and allegedly referred Medicare beneficiaries to Dieppa for prescriptions, medical certifications and care plans for therapy and home health services. ABC and Florida Home Health billed Medicare $18.7 million for services that were either medically unnecessary or never provided. 

The eight nurses each previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and were sentenced in US District Court:

      • Diana Sanabia, 36, RN, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $594,000 in restitution;
      • Daisy Santos, 43, RN, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $699,000;
      • Roberto Rodriguez, 44, RN, was sentenced to 30 months, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $603,900;
      • Marlene Magadan, 36, RN, was sentenced to 24 months, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $334,200;
      • Maria Perez, 49, RN, was sentenced to 18 months, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $180,600;
      • Alberto Alvarez, 55, RN, was sentenced to 15 months, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $101,800;
      • Yanisley Chao, 32, LPN, was sentenced to 5 months, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $66,800;
      • Leonardo Malagon, 40, LPN, was sentenced to 5 months, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $65,900.

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1 comments on "8 Nurses Heading to Prison for Medicare Fraud"


wallmart (2/9/2011 at 7:00 PM)
Medicare, the way things are going, Medicare could do just that. With its one-two punch of rising health care costs and more seniors to cover, Medicare will eat up more and more of the federal budget in the years ahead. But its also politically untouchable. www.1wallmart.com When either Democrats or Republicans try to suggest ways to trim the costs, theyre accused of trying to push Grandma down the stairs in her wheelchair. Republicans did it to the Democrats during the debate over the new health care law, and Democrats are doing it now, at the height of election season, as Republicans float their own proposals. the collapse of medicare is eminent within 10 years