Akop Atoyan — owner of the home health and hospice agency ANG Health Care, Excel Home Healthcare and Excel Hospice — has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks. The 48-year-old Glendale, Calif., resident is accused of paying nearly $2 million in kickbacks to multiple parties in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals.
Atoyan’s wife and co-owner of the Sacramento, Calif.-based companies also pleaded guilty in April to comparable charges. The pair made kickback payments to employees of hospitals, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, as well as spouses of those individuals, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert.
“In total, Atoyan, Karapetyan and others caused the agencies to submit over 8,000 claims to Medicare for the cost of home health care and hospice services. Based on those claims, Medicare paid the agencies approximately $31 million,” the U.S. Justice Department indicated in a statement. “Because the agencies obtained the beneficiary referrals by paying kickbacks, the agencies should not have received any Medicare reimbursement.”
The alleged kickback recipients included John Eby, a registered nurse who worked for a hospital in Sacramento; Anita Vijay, the director of social services at a skilled nursing and assisted living facility; Jai Vijay, Anita Vijay’s husband; and Mariela Panganiban, the director of social services at a skilled nursing facility, according to prosecutors. Each of these individuals have pleaded guilty for their roles in the case.
In concert with the guilty plea, Atoyan has agreed to pay restitution of more than $2.5 million to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Sentencing in the case is set for Oct. 7. Atoyan faces as many as 10 years in prison for the fraud change and five years for the kickback conspiracy charge.
The FBI and U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of the Inspector General investigated the scheme. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Thuesen is prosecuting the case.
This court action follows another recent case involving Texas-based hospice provider Merida Health, which led to prison sentences for several individuals, including CEO Henry McInnis.McInnis received a 15-year prison sentence for his role in certifying patients for hospice who were not terminally ill, bilking Medicare of $154 million. The conspirators in the Merida case were accused of lying to patients about their prognosis and falsifying medical records, among other violations.
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