Who Can You Trust
Yesterday an L.A. pastor and part-time nurse in two area hospitals was sentenced to 15 years in a federal prison for concocting a scheme that bilked Medicare out of $14.2 million. Christopher Iruke, his wife Connie Ikpoh and one of their employees Aura Marroquin were all convicted in August 2011 of conspiracy and health care fraud. According to the federal government, the 61 year old Iruke even hired parishioners at the church he co-lead to assist with the scheme. In conjunction with the federal prison time, U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter stipulated that Iruke and his accomplices pay back $6.7 million along with three years of ``supervised release`` once he is released from prison.
In a news release issued from the U.S. Department of Justice, evidence brought forth at the trial showed Iruke and Ikpoh were pastors at the now obsolete Arms of Grace Christian Center, which also operated as the Pascon Medical Supply, a falsified Durable Medical Equipment (DME) supply company. Pascon eventually branched off into another fraudulent DME company called Horizon Medical Equipment and Supply Inc. Evidence at trials supported the claims of alleged fraud citing several documents revealing that Iruke had purchased from numerous illicit sources to bill Medicare for expensive, high-end power wheelchairs and orthotics that were either medically unnecessary or never even provided to a patient. Medicare was billed for the power wheelchairs alone at a rate of roughly $6,000 per chair--but their cost is only approximately $900 at wholesale prices.
The more often these schemes come to light, the less trusting patients are with their healthcare providers--with obvious cause. However, here at Lenco we are committed to your health as our number one priority--and not dollar signs.