Corporate Compliance

Two plead guilty in separate Detroit-based Medicare fraud schemes

Compliance Monitor, November 25, 2009

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An occupational therapist, Jaunita Lovelace, and patient recruiter, Timothy Pierce, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Detroit to defrauding the Medicare program, according to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release.

Lovelace, 30, a licensed occupational therapist in the Detroit area, admitted to creating fictitious therapy files documenting services provided to Medicare beneficiaries, but never provided those services. She admitted to receiving upwards of $110 for each falsified record. She and her co-conspirators submitted claims to Medicare totaling approximately $2.2 million. Medicare paid $1 million on those claims, according to the DOJ.

Pierce, 42, worked for Dearborn (MI) Medical Rehabilitation Center (DMRC) to recruit, drive, and pay kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries to induce them to attend DMRC. Pierce had the beneficiaries sign paperwork indicating they received infusions and injections that they never received and routinely billed Medicare for services medically unnecessary or never provided.



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