Texas Patient Recruiter Sentenced to 21 Months in Prison for Accepting Kickbacks

Written by Jaimie Oh | July 26, 2010

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A recruiter for Houston-based durable medical equipment company Luant & Odera was sentenced to 21 months in prison for her involvement in a $3 million fraud scheme, according to a news release by the Department of Justice.

Paula Whitfield was found guilty for receiving kickbacks in exchange for providing Luant, which was doing business as Tonni Medical Equipment & Supplies, with Medicare beneficiaries.

Evidence showed that Luant would bill Medicare under a special code that would not require a doctor's order for power wheelchairs as replacements for wheelchairs it claims were lost during hurricanes that hit the Houston area in fall 2008. Evidence also showed the hurricanes did not damage the wheelchairs and that beneficiaries did not even have a power wheelchair before receiving ones Luant sent to them.

Beneficiaries, whose names were used to submit claims under, also testified in trial that recruiters whom they had never previously met, including Ms. Whitfield, came to their homes and offered them free power wheelchairs in exchange for their Medicare information. All beneficiaries involved neither needed nor used the power wheelchairs Luant provided to them.

Ms. Whitfield was also ordered to pay $807,781 in restitution in addition to her prison sentence. Helen Etinfoh, the former owner and operator of Luant, was convicted on several counts of healthcare fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 13.

Read the Department of Justice's news release on the Houston fraud scheme.

Read other coverage on Texas healthcare fraud:

- Texas Ex-Couple Sentenced for Defrauding Medicaid

- Texas Woman Sentenced for Medical Equipment Fraud

- Texas State Representative, Two Others Charged in Medicaid Fraud Scheme

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