Two Filipino Americans from West Covina, California, were arrested on Tuesday in connection with an alleged $4.8 million health care fraud scheme involving bogus hospice care services, according to a report from Inquirer.net.
Normita Sierra, 71, who owns and operates Golden Meadows Hospice Inc. and D’Alexandria Hospice Inc., is accused of orchestrating the fraudulent billing of Medicare for hospice services provided to patients who were not terminally ill. She faces nine counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy, and four counts of illegal kickbacks for patient referrals.
Also arrested was 55-year-old Rowena Elegado, who is facing charges of conspiracy and four counts of illegal remuneration related to health care referrals.
Federal prosecutors allege that from September 2018 to October 2022, Sierra and Elegado paid marketers as much as $1,300 per patient each month to recruit individuals into hospice care — even though many had not been referred by their physicians and did not qualify as terminally ill. Court documents reveal that once patients were admitted, they often did not pass away under hospice care but were instead discharged after about six months, sometimes redirected to Sierra’s other health business.
Golden Meadows allegedly submitted at least $3.8 million in false claims, receiving $2.9 million from Medicare, while D’Alexandria billed nearly $1 million, of which $894,200 was paid out.
If convicted, Sierra could face up to 10 years in prison for each health care fraud charge. Both Sierra and Elegado may face up to five years for the conspiracy charge and up to 10 years for each count related to illegal kickbacks.
