Federal charges result in alleged Medicare fraud by De Soto doctor
Also indicted in the case was Dr. Rajitha Goli, 48, of St. Louis, who provided medical services to Ellegood's patients, along with three companies, Hanford Nuclear Services in West Plains, Shephard's Funeral Home in St. Louis and Argoya Inc of Durham, N.C..
United States Attorney Catherine Hanaway said Dr. James Harold Ellegood, 72, and his wife Wynsleen, 47, a registered nurse, operated Missouri Physician Home Services (PHS) from their home in De Soto.Goli had already had her license revoked in 2002 following a felony conviction for health care fraud, Hanaway said. She was ineligible to practice medicine until 2010 and excluded from participating in Medicare or Medicaid programs for 20 years.
The indictment alleges that the Ellegoods hired nurses and nurse practitioners as independent contractors to provide services to patients in their homes.
Ellegood, or a PHS employee at his direction, allegedly assigned his patients to nurses who made unaccompanied home visits to the patients. Ellegood then allegedly took the patient charts to a Shepard's Funeral Home in St. Louis on Natural Bridge, where the nurses allegedly picked up the charts before the home visits.
According to court documents, Ellegood signed patient charts for the home visits conducted by the registered nurses and nurse practitioners, falsely representing that he had personally provided the service when he was not present in the home.
The indictment claims the Ellegoods submitted more than 300 false claims with Ellegood's provider number that insinuated he had personally visited patients, when he was in fact in Mexico or the Bahamas.
Court documents also allege that the Ellegoods submitted claims with Goli's provider number, allegedly knowing that she was not a licensed Missouri physician and had been excluded as a Medicare/Medicaid provider.
The Ellegoods allegedly concealed the payments to Goli by sending money to Hanford Nuclear Services and Arogya, which in turn paid Goli.
Hanford Nuclear Services is owned by Wynsleen Ellegood's brother-in-law and Arogya is owned by Goli's two brothers.
If convicted, each count of conspiracy and making false statements carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000 and each count of money laundering carries maximum penalties of 10 to 20 years in prison and/or fines up to $500,000.
