Nearly two dozen Michiganders involved in home health care are accused of bilking Medicare out of $61.5 million through kickbacks, bribes, and medical services never rendered, according to federal authorities.

The U. S. Department of Justice is charging 23 Michigan residents in the alleged scheme, according to a news release.

Walid Jamil, 62, and Jalal Jamil, 69, both of Oakland County, operated and owned numerous home health agencies in metro Detroit. The pair operated these businesses using straw owners — they used their friends and family to hide their identities, according to the Justice Department.

Walid and Jalal Jamil submitted approximately $50 million in fraudulent home health care claims to Medicare, the government contends. The pair also allegedly paid bribes to co-conspirators to find patients in violation of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute. These patients did not actually need home health care, nor did they qualify for home health care under Medicare and actually did not receive the care but Medicare was still billed, the government said.

“As alleged, the defendants and their co-conspirators repeatedly paid illegal bribes and kickbacks so they could submit claims for medically unnecessary home health services throughout the Detroit metropolitan area, exposing patients to needless physician services and drug testing and costing Medicare tens of millions of dollars,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr., of the Justice Department’s Criminal...

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