The owner of a Michigan home health agency was sentenced to 60 months in prison for his role in a scheme involving approximately $1.5 million in Medicare claims for home health services that were procured through the payment of illegal kickbacks. Atheir Amarrah, 44, the owner of Prompt Care Home Health Services Inc. of West Bloomfield, Michigan, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Judith E. Levy of the Eastern District of Michigan, who also ordered him to pay approximately $1 million in restitution, jointly and severally with his co-conspirators. In May 2018, Amarrah pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive healthcare kickbacks in connection with a federal healthcare program and to four counts of paying healthcare kickbacks. As part of his guilty plea, Amarrah admitted that he paid illegal kickbacks to recruiters in exchange for Medicare beneficiary referrals and billed Medicare for claims procured through these illegal kickbacks. According to court documents, Amarrah caused a loss of over $1 million to the Medicare program by submitting claims to Medicare from 2013 through 2017 related to Medicare beneficiary information that he obtained by paying illegal kickbacks.
