The owner and operator of a San Francisco-based home health agency received a sentence of two years in federal prison.

Veronica Katz — the owner and operator of HealthNow Home Healthcare and Hospice (HealthNow) — was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 17, 2023, along with two co-defendants. Katz pleaded guilty back in April 2024 to one count of health care fraud.

In addition to the two year sentence, Katz also has to pay $543,634.34 in restitution.

Plus, Katz was sentenced to a three-year period of supervised release and has to pay a $50,000 fine.

Katz will begin serving her sentence on Jan. 6, 2025.

During her time operating HealthNow, Katz submitted false documentation to Medicare as a means to gain reimbursement. This is a violation of Medicare’s rules and regulations.

“According to Katz’s plea agreement, she participated in a scheme to defraud Medicare that took a number of forms, including using the identities of licensed medical practitioners on electronic medical records and billing information without the practitioners’ knowledge or consent; directing certain individuals to prepare ‘Start of Care’ (SOC) forms even though the individuals were not Registered Nurses (RNs), as required by Medicare; manipulating electronic patient medical records in order to make it appear as if RNs had completed the patient SOCs; and billing Medicare for physical therapy services that Katz knew had not been provided,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California read.

Katz also admitted that she made moves to derail law enforcement’s investigation into HealthNow. She did this by telling her employees to lie to the FBI and say that employees had been trained and supervised by an RN in the process of conducting SOC assessments.

Along with Katz, Vennesa Herrera was named a co-defendant. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud on Aug. 30, 2021. She will be sentenced on Mar. 17, 2025.

Another co-defendent, Simon Katz’s trial is scheduled for May 12, 2025.