In Separate Cases Physician And Home Health Care Owner Charged With Medicaid Fraud

Posted by donna@healthlawcenterplc.com in Sep, 2019

In just a week’s time, the Michigan Attorney General, in totally separate cases, has charged a Farmington physician and a home health care owner of Medicaid Fraud.  In the first case, Dr. Ban Mechael  was charged with Medicaid Fraud and falsifying medical records based on allegations, that between 2016 and 2017 she submitted claims for phantom and unnecessary therapeutic injections/infusions and other medical procedures while she was either out of the state or the country.

In a separate case, Carmen Rembert was recently charged with three felony counts of Medicaid Fraud-Kickbacks for personal enrichment.  Between January 2015 and December 2017, Ms. Rembert owned Personal Care Home Services.  During this time period she and a co-defendant engaged in a scheme in which it is alleged that Eliza Ijames who worked for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services as a independent living services specialist with the Wayne County Adult Services office.  The alleged scheme was that Ms. Ijames approved Medicaid beneficiaries for  home health services and steered many of those clients to Rembert’s company.  During this 3 year period of time significant payments were made to a bank account co-managed by both defendants, who used Medicaid payments for their own personal needs.  In an earlier proceeding, Ms. Ijames has been convicted of charges related to this scheme.

The penalty for Medicaid Fraud is imprisonment for up to four years and/or a $30,000 fine for each violation.  Punishment for False Claims is imprisonment for up to four years and/or a $50,000 fine for each violation.  The penalty for intentionally falsifying medical records is imprisonment for up to four years and/or a fine of $5,000 for each violation.

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