Two found guilty in $3.2 million hospice scheme

Two people will be sentenced next spring after they were found guilty in a $3.2 million hospice fraud scheme, according to a Department of Justice release Dec. 12.

 

Nita Palma, 75, of Glendale, Calif., was found guilty of 12 counts of health care fraud and 16 counts of paying illegal kickbacks for health care referrals. Percy Abrams, 74, of Lakewood, Calif., also was found guilty of six counts of receiving illegal kickbacks for health care referrals. 

 

As owner of Magnolia Gardens Hospice, Palma paid “marketers,” including Abrams, hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks for patient referrals that Palma could bill to Medicare for purported hospice care, according to the DOJ.

 

Read the full release at https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/glendale-woman-and-lakewood-man-found-guilty-32-million-hospice-fraud-scheme-involving.