On April 18, 2016, the Department of Justice announced, that a Miami physician was sentenced to 108 months in prison for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that caused roughly $30 million in losses.
In February 2016, Henry Lora pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, receive health care kickbacks and make false statements relating to health care matters. Henry Lora was ordered to pay $30,278,542 in restitution and to forfeit the same amount.
Henry Lora, a medical director of Merfi Corporation, admitted that in exchange for kickbacks and bribes, he and his co-conspirators wrote prescriptions for home health care and other services for Medicare beneficiaries that were not medically necessary or not provided. Henry Lora and his co-conspirators also falsified patient records to make it appear as if the beneficiaries qualified for these services.
Henry Lora and his co-conspirators’ actions caused multiple Miami-Dade home health care agencies and other providers to bill Medicare for services that were not medically necessary or not provided. Medicare made payments on these fraudulent claims.
The owner of Merfi, Isabel Medina, was also charged and sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud back in March 2014.
