Sentenced to 84 Months in Prison for Health Care Fraud Scheme Involving More Than $2 Million in False Billings

Source- http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/May/11-crm-634.html

WASHINGTON – The owner of a Houston-area durable medical equipment (DME) company was sentenced to 84 months in prison for her role in a Medicare fraud scheme, the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.

Doris Vinitski, a Houston-area resident, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Nancy F. Atlas in the Southern District of Texas. Vinitski pleaded guilty in April 2010 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

According to court documents, Vinitski, 46, was the owner of Onward Medical Supply, a Houston-area DME company. Onward began billing Medicare for fraudulent DME in 2003. In pleading guilty, Vinitski admitted she paid kickbacks, sometimes $1,000 per patient, to recruiters who brought patients to Onward. Vinitski and her co-conspirator and estranged husband, John Lachman, then billed Medicare for DME that these patients either did not need or never received, including power wheelchairs and orthotic devices. Lachman also pleaded guilty in April 2010 to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and was sentenced to 26 months in prison. According to court documents, the fraud scheme at Onward resulted in more than $2 million in fraudulent billing to Medicare.

Nine additional defendants involved in the Onward fraud scheme are currently serving prison sentences. One remaining defendant is awaiting sentencing in the Eastern District of Texas.


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