Shiva Akula, age 65, of New Orleans, Louisiana was charged by a grand jury on August 5, 2021, in a 23-count Indictment for Healthcare Fraud. Akula owned and oversaw the day-to-day operations of Canon Healthcare, a hospice facility. According to the Indictment, Akula unlawfully enriched himself by submitting and causing the submission of false and fraudulent claims to healthcare benefit programs, including Medicare. Akula instructed Canon employees to improperly bill for General Inpatient (“GIP”) services to maximize reimbursement from healthcare benefit programs, knowing that those services were not medically necessary.
