The owner of two Illinois nursing agencies was arrested Tuesday on charges he allegedly defrauded Medicare out of more than $5 million for unnecessary home care services over a 44-month period. The arrest is the latest in a long string of arrests made by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which has been operating in the Chicago area since February 2011.
James Ademiju was charged with one count of healthcare fraud and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or a fine totaling twice the gain or loss (whichever is greater) and restitution is mandatory, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. Ademiju is listed as the operator of Adonis Inc. and BestMed-Care Services Ltd., both of Dolton, IL.
According to a 56-page affidavit, Ademiju’s agencies illegally paid hundreds of dollars per-patient referrals from a marketing company that claimed to offer “free” nursing services to Medicare beneficiaries. The affidavit further alleges Ademiju’s agencies sent the patients to a suburban Chicago home care physician group, which then certified them as needing homebound skilled nursing services even though it was later shown they didn’t need or require them. Ademiju also allegedly filed nursing assessments falsely claiming the patients were homebound or needing assistance with activities of daily living, or ADLs.
