The former owner, president and manager of Miami, FL-based Quick Solutions Medical Supplies, Angel Mirabal, has pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud charges, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
He admitted to billing Medicare for expensive durable medical equipment that were medically unnecessary and often not even provided to beneficiaries, some of whom lived hundreds of miles away from Miami. The incidents occurred from April 2010 to July 2013.
Mirabal pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and healthcare fraud before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke of the Southern District of Florida. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 6.
From June 2011 through February 2012, Quick Solutions submitted about $5 million in fraudulent claims; Medicare paid around $587,900 for these claims.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Texas Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which operates in 9 U.S. cities and was started in March 2007. It has charged almost 2,100 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $6.5 billion.
- here is the DOJ statement