Two doctors and a nurse are among seven North Texans charged in connection with the nation’s largest home health care fraud bust, federal authorities announced on Thursday. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force led the nationwide effort that resulted in federal charges against 243 people, including 46 doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

 

The various schemes netted the suspects $712 million in billings for nonexistent treatments, officials said.

“This action represents the largest criminal health care fraud takedown in the history of the Department of Justice,” said U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.

 

Five North Texas defendants were arrested on Tuesday. They include: Dr. Noble U. Ezukanma, 56, a Fort Worth doctor; Myrna S. Parcon, aka “Merna Parcon,” 62, of Dallas; Lita S. Dejesus, 70, of Allen; Oliva A. Padilla, 57, of Garland; and Ben P. Gaines, 55, of Plano. All made their first appearance in court and have been released on bond, authorities said. A sixth person, Dr. Ransome N. Etindi, 56, of Waxahachie, is expected to surrender to authorities on Friday in Dallas. The arrests are the latest in a succession of home health swindles in Dallas, which has some of the highest Medicare spending in the nation.

 

According to authorities, Ezukanma, Parcon, and Dejesus owned and operated US Physician Home Visits, also known as Healthcare Liaison Professionals, Inc. on Viceroy Drive in Dallas. Ezukanma and Etindi authorized Medicare billings for the company.

 

Gaines formed A Good Homehealth, which Parcon secretly owned, in the same office, officials said. And Parcon and Padilla formed Essence Home Health, also known as “Primary Angel, Inc.” on Midway Road in Addison.

 

All three companies operated as one and shared employees, authorities said. Their phone numbers are no longer active.

 

Ezukanma, a native of Nigeria, received his Texas medical license in 1999 and specializes in internal medicine and pulmonary critical care, records show. Etindi’s medical license was suspended in 2011 after the medical board said he had sex with a patient, records show. The board required that for 10 years he have a chaperon present when he examines a female patient.

 

Etindi, a native of Kenya, received his Texas medical license in 2001. The conspiracy to defraud Medicare began in January 2009 and lasted until June 2013, according to the indictment. The three companies “reversed the home health process,” the indictment said. They requested home health care services for people whether they were homebound or not instead of a physician ordering such services after examining them.

 

Ezukanma authorized home health care services such as physician visits without knowing anything about the patients in some cases, the indictment said. US Physician Home Visits billed “at an alarming rate,” submitting claims for doctor visits lasting at least 90 minutes when most actually took 15 to 20 minutes, the indictment said.

 

More than 97 percent of the company’s patients received home health care whether they needed it or not, resulting in more than $40 million in Medicare payments for fraudulent services, officials said. The company billed Medicare for patient examinations Ezukanma and Etindi couldn’t possibly have provided, according to the indictment.

 

On Oct. 16, 2012, for example, Ezukanma submitted bills for 205 hours he supposedly worked on that day, the indictment said. As part of the investigation, federal agents seized $344,900 from Ezukanma’s home in Fort Worth, which is valued at more than half a million dollars.

 

The strike force is a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services.