California Home Health Owner Sentenced for Medicare Fraud, Thwarting FBI

SAN FRANCISCO—Veronica Katz, a San Francisco home health agency owner, was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to pay $543,634 in restitution for committing health care fraud. The sentencing was handed down by James Donato, U.S. District Judge.

Katz was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 17, 2023, and pleaded guilty on Apr. 18, 2024, to one count of health care fraud. Katz was the owner and operator of HealthNow Home Healthcare and Hospice, a home health agency that provided in-home medical care to patients in the San Francisco Bay area. While operating HealthNow, Katz billed Medicare and private insurance companies for in-home medical care and submitted false documentation to Medicare to obtain reimbursements that were in violation of Medicare’s rules and regulations.

According to Katz’s plea agreement, she participated in a scheme to defraud Medicare that took a number of forms, including using the identities of licensed medical practitioners on electronic medical records and billing information without the practitioners’ knowledge or consent; directing certain individuals to prepare start of care (SOC) forms, even though the individuals were not registered nurses (RNs), as required by Medicare; manipulating electronic patient medical records in order to make it appear as if RNs had completed the patient SOCs; and billing Medicare for physical therapy services that Katz knew had not been provided.

Additionally, Katz admitted that she took steps to thwart law enforcement’s investigation into HealthNow. In October 2019, Katz met with one of her HealthNow employees, who informed Katz that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents had questioned the employee regarding the company’s billing practices and SOC assessments. Katz then instructed the employee to lie to the FBI and falsely state that the employee had been trained and supervised by an RN during the course of conducting SOC assessments.

In addition to the term of imprisonment and restitution, Judge Donato sentenced Katz to a three-year period of supervised release and ordered her to pay a $50,000 fine. Katz will begin serving her sentence on Jan. 6, 2025.

Two co-defendants were also indicted by the federal jury on Oct. 17, 2023. Co-defendant Vennesa Herrera pleaded guilty on Aug. 30, 2021, to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud. Herrera is set to be sentenced on Mar. 17, 2025. Additionally, co-defendant Simon Katz has a trial is scheduled for May 12, 2025.