A home health care agency in suburban Lincolnwood, two nurses who are part owners of the company and a third nurse affiliated with them, along with two marketers---one of whom resides in Des Plaines---were indicted on federal charges for allegedly participating in a conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks in exchange for the referral of Medicare patients for home health care services, federal law enforcement officials announced Monday.

Defendants Marilyn Maravilla and Junjee L. Arroyo, both part owners of Goodwill Home Healthcare, Inc., and three other defendants allegedly conspired to pay and receive approximately $400,000 in kickbacks to themselves, nurses, marketers and others for the referral and retention of Medicare patients that enabled Goodwill to bill Medicare approximately $5 million.

Also indicted were Ferdinand Echavia, a licensed nurse who referred patients to Goodwill, and Jean Holloway and Rakeshkumar Shah, both of whom marketed Goodwills services to Medicare patients.

The 29-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury last Thursday and unsealed on Friday following the arrests of Holloway, 41, of Bellwood, and Shah, 46, of Des Plaines. Both were released on bond after pleading not guilty in U.S. District Court.

Maravilla, 55, of Chicago; Arroyo, 44, of Elmhurst; and Echavia, 39, of Chicago, all licensed nurses, together with Goodwill as a corporate defendant, are scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 22 in U.S. District Court.

All six defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to pay and receive illegal kickbacks for Medicare patient referrals, and each defendant was also charged with the following number of counts of violating the anti-kickback statute: Goodwill, 16 counts; Maravilla, 15 counts; Arroyo, 16 counts; Echavia, five counts; Holloway, three counts; and Shah, eight counts.

The indictment was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Lamont Pugh III, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Region of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Paying kickbacks to refer Medicare patients is illegal. Money cannot be permitted to be the basis of a medical referral over medical necessity or quality of service, Mr. Pugh said. The investigation is continuing, the officials said.

Between August 2008 and July 2010, the indictment alleges that Maravilla, Arroyo and two other individuals one an officer and an owner of Goodwill, and the other a certified public accountant and Goodwills bookkeeper paid and caused Goodwill to pay kickbacks to nurses, marketers and other home health care workers who referred patients to Goodwill; assisted in re-certifying patients as homebound; or caused patients to begin new 60-day care cycles of home health care with Goodwill. By offering kickbacks, Maravilla, Arroyo, and others sought to increase Goodwills patient census and to enrich themselves and Goodwill. During this time, Goodwill obtained referrals of approximately 900 cycles of home health care, including new patients and the re-certification of existing patients for additional 60-day cycles of care.

According to the indictment, the amount of the kickback payments varied, but generally ranged from approximately $400 to $700 for each new care cycle, and approximately $100 to $300 for each re-certification. The payments were intended to induce nurses, marketers and others in the home health industry to refer patients to Goodwill for services to be reimbursed by Medicare, the indictment alleges.

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Health Care Providers Indicted In Alleged Kickback Scheme