Health Care Clinic Consultant and Medicare Biller Pleads Guilty in Miami for Role in $63 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme
Seattle Whistleblower Attorneys report that a former health care clinic consultant and Medicare biller pleaded guilty today in connection with a $63 million health care fraud and money laundering scheme involving a defunct Miami-area health care provider.
Nery Cowan, 53, of Miami, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Cowan will be sentenced by Judge Bloom on March 25, 2016.
According to the factual basis, Cowan served as a consultant and Medicare biller for Greater Miami Behavioral Healthcare Center Inc. (Greater Miami), a partial hospitalization program (PHP) that purported to provide intensive treatment for severe mental illness, where Cowan directed the payment of kickbacks to patient brokers and others in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals. Cowan admitted that she received a percentage of the Medicare reimbursement from Greater Miami’s PHP as compensation.
Cowan admitted that she, along with co-defendants Dean Butler and Irina Mora, took great lengths to conceal kickback payments to shell companies owned by “patient brokers” who, on behalf of Greater Miami, solicited Medicare beneficiaries from assisted living facilities, halfway houses and drug courts located throughout the Southern District of Florida. Cowan, Butler and Mora disguised these monthly kickbacks as “outreach” or “marketing” payments through HNB-Stell Care Inc., a sham staffing company, she admitted.
According to court documents, from 2006 through 2014, Greater Miami billed Medicare approximately $63 million for purported mental health services.
On Nov. 30, 2015, Judge Bloom sentenced Butler to 16 years in prison and Mora to nine years in prison following their guilty pleas.
Source: Dept. of Justice
Nery Cowan, 53, of Miami, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Cowan will be sentenced by Judge Bloom on March 25, 2016.
According to the factual basis, Cowan served as a consultant and Medicare biller for Greater Miami Behavioral Healthcare Center Inc. (Greater Miami), a partial hospitalization program (PHP) that purported to provide intensive treatment for severe mental illness, where Cowan directed the payment of kickbacks to patient brokers and others in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals. Cowan admitted that she received a percentage of the Medicare reimbursement from Greater Miami’s PHP as compensation.
Cowan admitted that she, along with co-defendants Dean Butler and Irina Mora, took great lengths to conceal kickback payments to shell companies owned by “patient brokers” who, on behalf of Greater Miami, solicited Medicare beneficiaries from assisted living facilities, halfway houses and drug courts located throughout the Southern District of Florida. Cowan, Butler and Mora disguised these monthly kickbacks as “outreach” or “marketing” payments through HNB-Stell Care Inc., a sham staffing company, she admitted.
According to court documents, from 2006 through 2014, Greater Miami billed Medicare approximately $63 million for purported mental health services.
On Nov. 30, 2015, Judge Bloom sentenced Butler to 16 years in prison and Mora to nine years in prison following their guilty pleas.
Source: Dept. of Justice