South Florida Owner and Office Manager of Home Health Company Arrested for Defrauding Medicaid

Oct 28, 2010

The following news release was issued by the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum on October 28, 2010:

South Florida Owner and Office Manager of Home Health Company Arrested for Defrauding Medicaid

www.myfloridalegal.com

Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced the arrest of a Broward County man on charges of Medicaid fraud. Yuriy Shvartsman, owner of Sunshine Good Care, LLC, was arrested yesterday morning by law enforcement officers with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Elena Dalis, office manager of Sunshine Good Care, LLC, surrendered to law enforcement officials last night. Both are in custody for scheming to defraud nearly $150,000 from Florida’s Medicaid program.

The investigation revealed that from 2005 through 2008, at the direction of Shvartsman, 52, and Dalis, 50, employees of the company provided home health services to their relatives in violation of the Florida Medicaid Program. Shvartsman and Dalis also permitted home health aides to submit fraudulent time cards that the company used to bill Medicaid. The time cards reflected that necessary home health services were provided to various Medicaid recipients on dates when either the caregiver or the recipient were out of the country, and/or billed for services never rendered. Based upon statements from the home health aides and review of time sheets submitted by the home health aides, investigators were able to confirm that the services were either not being provided or were provided to the parent(s) of the home health aides.

Shvartsman and Dalis were each charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud, a first-degree felony. If convicted, each faces a maximum of thirty years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The case will be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

Find this news release athttp://www.myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsreleases/ED57D9A42325618D852577CA005090BB