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星期五, 3月 30, 2018

HOME HEALTH AGENCY OWNER INVOLVED IN $2.7 MILLION MEDICAID FRAUD SCHEME CHARGED WITH PROVIDING FORGED DOCUMENT TO COURT

HOME HEALTH AGENCY OWNER INVOLVED IN $2.7 MILLION MEDICAID FRAUD SCHEME CHARGED WITH PROVIDING FORGED DOCUMENT TO COURT
Defendant Allegedly Provided False Court Judgment to Suffolk Clerk and Probation Offices Claiming Her Case Had Been Dismissed

BOSTON – The owner of a Boston-based home health agency accused of orchestrating a $2.7 million Medicaid fraud scheme has been indicted for allegedly providing a false court document that claimed the case against her had been dismissed, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

Elena Kurbatzky, age 44, of Boston was indicted on Thursday by a Suffolk County Grand Jury on the additional charge of Uttering False or Forged Records. She will be arraigned on that charge in Suffolk Superior Court on April 5. Kurbatzky was the owner of Harmony Home Health Care, LLC located on Albany Street in Boston. 

Kurbatzky was previously indicted on charges of Medicaid False Claims, Larceny over $250 by False Pretenses, and Medicaid Member Eligibility Fraud in connection with allegedly stealing nearly $2.7 million from the state’s Medicaid program (MassHealth) by routinely billing for services that were never provided to patients and/or not authorized by physicians.

After Kurbatzky’s arraignment on those charges in July 2017, the court imposed several conditions of release, including that Kurbatzky submit to GPS monitoring and cease working as a health care provider. Kurbatzky filed several petitions with the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) appealing the conditions, as well as seeking to dismiss the indictments. 

The AG’s Office alleges that in March 2018, Kurbatzky presented a record she knew was false to the Suffolk County Superior Court Criminal Clerk’s Office and Suffolk County Superior Court Probation Office claiming that the fraud indictments against her and her co-defendants had been dismissed by the SJC. The AG’s Office alleges that Kurbatzky did so in order to get her GPS monitoring device removed.

The SJC’s clerks verified that this document was forged and that no such order had been issued. Upon learning of the submission of the forged document, the AG’s Office requested an immediate bail hearing after which Kurbatzky’s conditions of release were revised to include 24-hour home confinement. 

All of these charges are allegations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

This case is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Jennifer Goldstein and Kevin Lownds and Investigator Christine Baker, all of AG Healey’s Medicaid Fraud Division, with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the AG’s Office, Victim Witness Advocate Amber Anderson of the AG’s Victim Services Division, and the Office of the Inspector General. MassHealth provided invaluable assistance during the fraud investigation.  

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