Medical Supply Company Settles Medicare Fraud Claims

Valley Home Medical Supply Inc. in Canoga Park paid a $565,873 settlement after allegations arose that the company defrauded the federal government's Medicare and Tricare programs.According to a statement from the Department of Justice on Wednesday, Valley Home allegedly submitted false claims to the federal health care programs for unnecessary medical supplies and supplies never delivered to patients between July 2006 and May 2013.The settlement resolved a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Valley Home employee Kari Kitamura. She will receive $124,492 as a result of the settlement, or 22 percent of the settlement proceeds, the Department of Justice said. Valley Home will also pay Kitamura $80,000 for attorney’s fees.Kenneth Greenlinger of Oxnard, who was chief executive of the company at the time, pled guilty in 2017 to two counts of health care fraud. Greenlinger served an eight-month federal prison sentence and was ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution, according to the department said.Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Palombo, a representative of the federal civil fraud section, worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Health and Human services on the case.