PA ambulance company defrauded Medicare, paid kickbacks

[Meursault]

http://www.fbi.gov/philadelphia/pre...-company-worker-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-scheme

Tkach admitted to giving false statements relating to health care and illegal remunerations relating to health care services. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 12, 2012 before U.S. District William H. Yohn, Jr. Tkach faces an advisory sentencing guideline range of 37 to 57 months in prison and has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $1.26 million to Medicare.

Tkach gave kickback payments in 2008 to a worker at a Philadelphia kidney dialysis center in exchange for patient referrals to Advantage.

And earlier, http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/...cle_8ba19d91-51a9-5f5f-b138-efde84480ba1.html

Ilya Sivchuk, 47, convicted of making a false statement, will be sentenced Feb. 7 and could get up to five years in a federal prison. His wife, Alla Sivchuk, 45, was acquitted.

The Sivchuks owned Advantage Ambulance Co. in Philadelphia. A business associate, Ivan Tkach, 29, of Philadelphia, operated the business and was in charge of billing procedures, prosecutors said.

Investigators say Tkach created a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare by transporting patients by ambulance who were able to walk or travel by paratransit van. Over six years, prosecutors said, Tkach scammed Medicare out of $1,268,000.

Pretty standard stuff. They sold the company in 2009.

 

[bstone]

Any time you establish a business relationship you should make sure it's on the up and have your lawyer certify it's not breaking any laws. Any time you do something on the "downlow" then you're asking for trouble. These folks are going to go to jail. Medicare dollars=tax payer dollars.