The owner of a Houston, Texas-area durable medical equipment (DME) company was sentenced to 84 months in prison for her role in a Medicare fraud scheme, the U.S. Departments of Justice (DoJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.
According to court documents, Doris Vinitski, 46, pleaded guilty in April 2010 to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, in a fraud scheme dating back to 2003 that resulted in more than $2 million in fraudulent billing to Medicare.
Vinitski, the owner of Onward Medical Supply , a Houston-area DME company, admitted she paid kickbacks, sometimes $1,000 per patient, to recruiters who brought patients to her company. Vinitski and her co-conspirator and estranged husband, John Lachman, then billed Medicare for DME that these patients either did not need or never received, including power wheelchairs and orthotic devices. Lachman also pleaded guilty in April 2010 to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and was sentenced to 26 months in prison.
Nine additional defendants involved in the Onward Medical Supply fraud scheme are currently serving prison sentences. One remaining defendant is awaiting sentencing in the Eastern District of Texas.
The cases were prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jennifer L. Saulino and Acting Assistant Chief O. Benton Curtis III of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), HHS-Office of the Inspector General (OIG), and Medicare Fraud Control Units (MFCU).
The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
