Hialeah woman pleads guilty in $7 million health care fraud scheme

Lizette Garcia, 37, former office worker at Anna Nursing

MIAMI – A woman from Hialeah pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to one count of payment of health care kickbacks, for her role in a $7 million health care fraud scheme.

Lizette Garcia, 37, was an office worker at Anna Nursing, a now defunct home health care company, that claimed to provide home health and therapy services to Medicare beneficiaries.

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Garcia admitted that she paid kickbacks and bribes to patient recruiters in return for the recruiters to provide patients to Anna Nursing.

According to court documents, from approximately October 2010 through April 2013, Anna Nursing was paid by Medicare about $7 million for fraudulent claims for home health care services that were medically unnecessary and/or were not provided.

Garcia said she did this on behalf of the owners and operators of Anna Nursing, and said she knew these acts were in violation of federal criminal laws.

Garcia is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 27.


About the Author:

Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.