MINNEAPOLIS -- Patrick Daniel Osei, owner of a home health care agency called Advance Home Health, was sentenced Wednesday in Minneapolis Federal Court for defrauding Medicaid and for making false statements to federal investigators.
United States District Court Judge sentenced Osei, age 51, of Brooklyn Park, to 63 months in prison on one count of illegal remuneration and two counts of making a false statement.
He was indicted for defrauding Medicaid on Oct. 20, 2009, and charged for making the false statements on May 20, 2010.
The 63-month sentence was higher than the sentencing range found in the sentencing guidelines, and in pronouncing the sentence, the court emphasized the seriousness of health care fraud schemes, particularly those targeting programs like Medicaid.
In entering his guilty pleas, Osei admitted that on Nov. 8, 2007, he offered and paid a kickback in the form of cash to someone for referring others to his company, Advance Home Health, in Brooklyn Park. Those referrals were for Personal Care Assistance ("PCA") paid by Medicaid, which provides medical care and services to low-income people who meet certain income and eligibility requirements.
Medicaid is a federal program administered in Minnesota by the State Department of Human Services.
In addition, Osei admitted that on April 29 and 30, 2010, he provided false information about assets to federal investigators during the government's attempted recovery of assets connected to the fraud conduct.
Osei also admittedly engaged in a conspiracy to defraud Medicaid by billing for services not actually provided At the sentencing hearing, the court determined that the total restitution due and owing the Medicaid program because of Osei's criminal activity totaled more than $520,000.
These cases are the result of investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General.