Health Law Alert by Lamb McErlane PC attorneys Vasilios J. Kalogredis, Esq. and Sonal Parekh, Esq.

On Thursday, September 14, 2023, a federal jury in the Southern District of Florida convicted the owner of a home health agency for paying kickbacks in exchange for Medicare patient referrals. Nelly Anderson owns Dial 4 Care, a business that provides home health services to Medicare beneficiaries. According to evidence presented at trial, Anderson hired numerous marketers and paid them kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals. Services rendered to the referred patients were then illegally submitted to Medicare for reimbursement.

Anderson was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay health care kickbacks, and two counts of paying kickbacks in connection with a federal health care program. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), she is scheduled to be sentenced on December 5, 2023 and faces a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison for the conspiracy count and 10 years in prison for each of the kickback offenses, collectively totaling a potential of 25 years in prison, subject to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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Vasilios J. (Bill) Kalogredis, Esq. has been advising physicians, dentists, and other healthcare professionals and their businesses as to contractual, regulatory and transactional matters for over 45 years. He is Chairman of Lamb McErlane PC’s Health Law Department. Bill can be reached by email at bkalogredis@lambmcerlane.com or by phone at 610-701-4402.

Sonal Parekh, Esq. is an associate at Lamb McErlane PC who focuses on healthcare transactional matters and a broad range of healthcare regulatory-related issues on behalf of healthcare systems, physicians, dentists, and other healthcare providers. Sonal can be reached by email at sparekh@lambmcerlane.com or by phone at 610-701-4416.