Several patient recruiters for now-defunct Miami home health company Flores Home Health Care Inc. were sentenced this week for their roles in an $8 million scheme to defraud Medicare.
Lerida Labrada, 59; Mayra Flores, 49; and German Martinez, 36, all of Miami, were sentenced to serve 37 months, 24 months, and 24 months in prison, respectively. They were also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay between $200,000 and $400,000 in restitution.
Sentencing was completed by U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro of the Southern District of Florida.
In January, Labrada pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and Flores and Martinez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and receive health care kickbacks.
Under the fraud scheme, the patient recruiters worked for the owners of the home health agency, during which they solicited and received kickbacks and bribes in return for allowing the company to bill Medicare for services that were not needed and/or provided.
Between October 2009 and June 2012, the company and those involved fraudulently billed Medicare for $8 million, the court found.
The owners of the former agency were sentenced previously for their role in the scheme.
Written by Elizabeth Ecker
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