Louisiana doctor, DME company owner sentenced for Medicare fraud
A New Orleans-area doctor and the owner and operator of a medical equipment company have been sentenced to prison on charges of healthcare fraud involving durable medical equipment, according to the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.
Dahlia V. Kirkpatrick and Emmanuel M. Komandu each pled guilty on Oct. 4, 2010, before U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson in the Middle District of Louisiana to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and were sentenced to 48 and 30 months in prison, respectively. They were also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to make restitution of $302,811 to theCenters for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
According to court documents, Kirkpatrick began working with Komandu in January 2005. Komandu was the owner and operator of Alpha Medical Solutions, which billed itself as a DME supplier based in Baker, La., that “specialized” in the provision of power wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories and feeding nutrients to Medicare beneficiaries.
According to court documents, from approximately January 2005 through February 2010, Komandu and Kirkpatrick submitted and caused the submission, on behalf of Alpha, of approximately $775,019 in fraudulent claims to the Medicare program. Medicare paid $302,811 to Alpha based on these fraudulent claims, investigators said.
The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Louisiana. Since its inception in March 2007, Strike Force operations in seven districts nationwide have obtained indictments of more than 850 individuals who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $2.1 billion.
