Two Miami women were sentenced to 10 years in prison for being the leaders in a conspiracy to pay healthcare kickbacks, prosecutors said Monday.
Yiral Cardona, 39, and Susan Chi, 42, were the owners of Vista Home Health Services, Inc., a healthcare agency that illegally obtained Medicare patients by paying bribes and kickbacks, according to the United States Attorney Southern District of Florida.
“The defendants illegally obtained Medicare patients by paying bribes and kickbacks of at least $141,000 to patient recruiters to induce the referral of Medicare patients to Vista for home health services,” the United States Attorney’s office said.
The two then billed Medicare with “home health services that were not medically necessary and/or not provided.”
According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Medicare paid the healthcare agency more than $4.1 million in claims between May 2009 and April 2012.
Local
The two women have been ordered to pay more than $733,000 in restitution. The names of their attorneys were immediately known.
