Kickback Scheme: Livermore-Based CEO, Pleasanton Doctor Charged

LIVERMORE, CA — The CEO of Amity Home Health Care — who is a Livermore resident — has been charged in what federal prosecutors are calling the largest cash-for-patients scheme ever brought forward in the Northern District of California. Ridhima "Amanda" Singh, 33, is one of 30 defendants charged in the wide-ranging investigation that has also snared other local medical professionals — including a Pleasanton doctor and a San Ramon marketer.

The complaints, unsealed Thursday, allege that Hayward-based Amity Home Health Care and Advent Care Inc. paid kickbacks to marketers, doctors, and other medical professionals in exchange for patient referrals.

According to the complaints, every single defendant charged was recorded by law enforcement officers either offering or accepting, or approving illegal payments for patient referrals.

The criminal complaints describe how Amity and some of its employees bribed people associated with hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and doctors’ offices to send patients to Amity and Advent. The defendants often "disguised the kickbacks as payroll, phony medical directorships, and, at other times, as entertainment, reimbursements, gifts, or donations," according to prosecutors.

Several of the defendants are doctors and other health care professionals who allegedly received bribes in exchange for making referrals to Amity and Advent and other home health agencies so that the companies could provide and bill for services.

Singh and her employees allegedly compensated these professionals in cash for each patient referral and for making introductions to physicians, case managers, or other health care professionals who could refer patients.

Some of the defendants are described as “marketers" who received cash and gifts, such as tickets to Warriors games, in exchange for patient referrals. Singh also allegedly instructed marketers in her company to take clients out to elaborate meals, sporting events, and purchase gifts for people willing to provide Amity with patients, mainly Medicare patients.

When patient referrals were slow, Singh allegedly directed the marketer to incentivize clients with gifts in an effort to induce them to refer more patients to Amity.

It is a crime to knowingly solicit, offer, or pay a kickback, bribe, or rebate for furnishing services under a federal health care program. Because many of the patients were insured by Medicare, a taxpayer-funded insurance plan, the referral of patients through the alleged kickback scheme violated federal law.

Charged in the alleged scheme are:

Each defendant is charged with illegally influencing patient referrals for federally funded health care through payments. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum $500,000 fine. Singh also faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years and a $250,000 fine for the lying charge and a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years and a $250,000 fine for the witness tampering charge. The corporations are subject to a $1,000,000 fine for each violation.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office of the U.S. Attorney, Northern District of California’s new Corporate Fraud Strike Force and is the result of an investigation by the FBI and the Office of Inspector General for the United States Department of Health and Human Services.