{"id":380667,"date":"2025-11-15T12:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T12:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/380667\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T12:14:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T12:14:25","slug":"houston-network-of-7-women-billed-medicare-110m-for-hospice-care-patients-who-werent-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/380667\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston network of 7 women billed Medicare $110M for hospice care patients who weren\u2019t dying"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\"><strong>HOUSTON<\/strong> \u2013 Seven people from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Houston\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Houston\/\">Houston<\/a> area have been charged in a superseding indictment tied to an alleged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Medicare\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Medicare\/\">Medicare<\/a> fraud scheme, U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Authorities arrested Hattie Banks, 49, of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Humble\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Humble\/\">Humble<\/a>; Lydia Obere, 59, and Cheryl Brooks, 64, both of Houston; and Ena Cowart, 50, of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Missouri_City\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Missouri_City\/\">Missouri City<\/a>. They join Dera Ogudo, 40, and Victoria Martinez, 36, both of Richmond, and Evelyn Shaw, 52, of Houston, who were arrested earlier.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to a 43-count superseding indictment returned Oct. 5, the seven are accused of conspiring to bill Medicare and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Medicaid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/topic\/Medicaid\/\">Medicaid<\/a> for more than $110 million in hospice services for patients who weren\u2019t actually terminally ill. Prosecutors say Ogudo and Martinez ran a business called United Palliative &amp; Hospice Company (UPHC) that misled elderly patients and their families about the care being billed to the government.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Court papers say UPHC marketers told beneficiaries they qualified for hospice care even when they did not. The indictment alleges Ogudo paid kickbacks to people who helped enroll patients \u2014 including group homeowners and others \u2014 and paid Shaw, a hospital discharge coordinator, for referrals. It also accuses Ogudo of bribing a doctor to falsely certify and re-certify patients as terminally ill.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">After agents searched UPHC, the indictment says Ogudo and Martinez opened new companies \u2014 Residential Hospice and Cedar Hospice \u2014 under straw owners to keep the alleged scheme going. Prosecutors claim they then laundered Medicare payments through accounts controlled by Martinez and others to hide Ogudo\u2019s role.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The charges include conspiracy to commit health care fraud, multiple counts of health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks, and violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute. <\/p>\n<ul class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 kDvXdO font_openSans articleList\">\n<li class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__StackBase-sc-1fnzlkn-7 ecGWWE iQviKm\"\/><\/ul>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Ogudo also faces 14 counts related to monetary transactions involving criminal proceeds; she and Martinez face an additional count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Many of the counts carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison; the money-laundering conspiracy can bring up to 20 years. Each conviction also carries a possible fine of up to $250,000.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 kiwhtN\">More Stories Like This In Our Email Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Seven people from the Houston area have been charged in a superseding indictment tied to an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":380668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4219,4345,425,50,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-380667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-crime","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-local","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115553663160112269","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}