Detroit-area resident Javed Rehman pleaded guilty yesterday for his role in a $13.8 million Medicare fraud scheme, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Rehman, 50, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Sometime around May 2009, according to court documents, Rehman purchased Quantum Home Care Inc. with co-conspirators Tausif Rahman and Muhammad Ahmad.
Rehman allegedly paid kickbacks to recruiters to obtain Medicare beneficiary information used to bill the federal Medicare program for home health services that were never rendered. Such services included physical therapy and skilled nursing care.
Medicare paid approximately $1.7 million for these services that Quantum purported to render between June 2009 and September 2011.
Between 2008 and 2009, court documents allege that Rehman’s co-conspirators, Rahman and Ahmad, acquired control of three other home health companies.
The four companies, Quantum included, received approximately $13.8 million from Medicare during the course of the conspiracy.
Rahman pleaded guilty on January 5, 2012 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of money laundering and is scheduled for sentencing on October 30, 2013.
Co-conspirator Ahmad pleaded guilty on August 28, 2012, to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and is scheduled for sentencing on October 29, 2013.
At sentencing scheduled for November 7, 2013, Rehman faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force.
Since the Strike Force’s inception in March 2007, the entity has charged more than 1,500 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $5 billion.
Written by Jason Oliva
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