A federal jury in the Eastern District of Michigan convicted Michigan nurse and home health care agency owner Ruby Scott, 55, of Farmington Hills, for operating a $1.6 million scheme to defraud Medicare through kickbacks and false billing claims.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Scott owned and operated Delta Home Health Care LLC.
From 2018 through 2021, she bribed a discharge nurse at a Detroit hospital to identify Medicare patients and fax confidential medical records to her company without patient knowledge.
Prosecutors said Scott developed the kickback arrangement while working at a prior home health company and later paid the nurse additional money per patient referral.
Evidence showed Scott paid the discharge nurse more than $130,000 through CashApp, PayPal, checks, and cash, and approximately $300 per patient billed to Medicare.
Prosecutors also said Scott used the obtained patient information to submit Medicare claims for home health services.
Trial evidence further stated Scott falsely represented that physicians had certified patients as eligible for home health services, including homebound status, when no physician had evaluated many of the patients.
In some cases, Scott allegedly used physician identities to fabricate certifications.
Prosecutors said some patients never received services from Delta despite Medicare payments.
Authorities said Delta failed to maintain patient files for more than one-third of the patients billed, while Medicare paid more than $1.2 million on those claims.
A witness testified that the total loss to Medicare was approximately $1.6 million.
The jury convicted Scott of five counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay illegal health care kickbacks, and four counts of paying illegal health care kickbacks.
Scott is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 24 and faces up to 10 years in prison on each health care fraud count, up to 10 years on each kickback count, and up to five years on the conspiracy count.
A federal judge will determine sentencing after reviewing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutory factors.