A Schererville physician and his siblings were indicted Thursday for committing Medicare fraud after the physician referred patients to his siblings’ home health agency.
Conrado Castor, 74, and the owners of American Home Health Services Inc. Aurea Duncan, 59, of Crown Point, and Jacob Castor, 58, of Dyer, were charged with submitting claims to Medicare in violation of the Stark Law.
The Stark Law ensures that the government will not pay for specific health services if the services were conducted by an institution that “had a financial relationship an immediate family member of the referring physician” because “such financial relationships can cause overutilization of those services and compromise the physician’s professional judgment,” according to a press release from Thomas Kirsch II, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana.
“Medical decisions should be based on the best interests of patients and not on the personal financial interests of referring physicians and their family members,” Kirsch said in the release.
According to the complaint, between 2008-2014 Conrado Castor referred numerous Medicare patients to three home health agencies owned by his immediate family members: American Home Health Services Inc., Adarna Home Health Care Services Inc., and Amore Home Health Care Services Inc., according to the release.
American Home Health Services Inc. is owned by Duncan, according to the release.
Medicare paid more than 400 claims totaling more than $1.2 million to American, Adarna, and Amore for Conrado Castor’s home health care referrals, according to the release.
Additionally, Medicare paid more than 300 claims totaling more than $800,000 to American for Conrado Castor’s home health care referrals, according to the release.
Under the False Claims Act, which prohibits an entity from knowingly submitting claims for payment for health services under Stark Law, the government can recover three times the amount of the false and fraudulent claims plus a civil penalty of $5,500 to $11,000 per false claim Conrado Castor filed between 2008-2014, according to the release.
![A judge declined to rule Wednesday after a man charged as an accomplice in a recent Lake Station drug robbery setup asked for a bail cut. Jehad Colvin, 22, of Gary, appeared in court where a judge entered a not guilty plea. His defense lawyer Robert Varga told Judge Samuel Cappas he couldn’t afford the $15,000 cash surety bond. He asked to lower it to $3,000 or $5,000. Varga argued the evidence was “very scant,” “thin” and would be “deeply contested” that Colvin was involved with what happened. Just being there, or not actively objecting to a crime was not […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Post-Tribune.jpg?w=620 "A judge declined to rule Wednesday after a man charged as an accomplice in a recent Lake Station drug robbery setup asked for a bail cut. Jehad Colvin, 22, of Gary, appeared in court where a judge entered a not guilty plea. His defense lawyer Robert Varga told Judge Samuel Cappas he couldn’t afford the $15,000 cash surety bond. He asked to lower it to $3,000 or $5,000. Varga argued the evidence was “very scant,” “thin” and would be “deeply contested” that Colvin was involved with what happened. Just being there, or not actively objecting to a crime was not […]")
