Sunshine Sentinel

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit today announced the arrests of three Miami-Dade County health care workers for committing Medicaid fraud. For more than two years, Dayanais Lopez, 38, Osmany Recano, 45, and Yosvany Rodriguez, 43, paid kickbacks to Medicaid recipients for psychosocial rehabilitation services. The defendants paid recipients up to $500 a month, or gift cards redeemable for cash, to attend PSR sessions—resulting in a loss to the state Medicaid program in excess of $100,000. 

Attorney General Ashley Moody said, “These health care workers knowingly solicited and discreetly paid kickbacks to Medicaid recipients for mental-health services. They were so focused on their criminal agenda that they even instructed changes to insurance providers to allow more claims and told all recipients to keep quiet about the kickbacks. This illegal scheme stole from Florida taxpayers and caused more than $100,000 in losses to the state program.”

Acting on a complaint from Humana, investigators found Cutler Bay Mental Health Corp recruited numerous Medicaid recipients to attend PSR therapies for monetary kickbacks. Lopez and Rodriguez owned and operated the mental-health facility, while Recano acted as a driver of the facility and recruited the recipients to attend the sessions. PSR therapies are services to restore a recipient’s skills and abilities necessary for independent living, including food planning and preparation, money management and more. The investigation revealed that recipients reported illegal concerns with the kickbacks to the defendants. However, the defendants told all recipients to be careful and to not say anything to anyone.

The defendants all face one count of Medicaid fraud, first-degree felonies. The case will be prosecuted by Attorney General Moody’s MFCU through an agreement with the State Attorney for the 11th Judicial Circuit.

Original source can be found here.