Bensalem woman charged over a home care kickback scheme prosecutors say cost Medicaid nearly $1.1 million
Federal prosecutors allege Hemal Patel, 59, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, took kickbacks for steering home care patients to home care agencies and, with others, billed Medicaid for home care services that were never provided. The government says the scheme caused a loss to Medicaid of approximately $1,069,384.38. Prosecutors allege Patel forged doctors' signatures on eligibility certification forms and used people's personal information without their knowledge to enroll them in services, including some who were living abroad at the time. The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania filed charges by information on June 30, 2025, as part of the Justice Department's 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, charging Patel with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Charged (an allegation, not a conviction)
- Reported loss
- $1.1 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Home health aide fraud
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-24
The facts, as recorded
- Hemal Patel, 59, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, in Bucks County, faces federal charges filed by information.
- Prosecutors allege Patel was paid kickbacks to steer home care patients to home care agencies.
- The government alleges the scheme billed Medicaid for home care services that were never provided.
- Prosecutors say the alleged scheme caused a loss to Medicaid of approximately $1,069,384.38.
- The information alleges Patel forged doctors' signatures on eligibility certification forms.
- Prosecutors allege Patel used people's personal identifying information without their knowledge or consent to enroll them in home care services, including people who were living abroad at the time, forming the basis of an aggravated identity theft charge.
- Patel is charged with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute.
- The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced the charges on June 30, 2025, as part of the Justice Department's 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown.
- The case was investigated by the FBI, the HHS Office of Inspector General, and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.
Why this case matters
This case documents the version of the scheme that targets eligibility paperwork and identity rather than visit notes: prosecutors allege Patel didn’t fabricate care that was delivered to a real, enrolled patient so much as enroll people, some of them not even in the country, using their identities without their knowledge to generate a kickback and a Medicaid claim neither of them asked for.
A headline number that doesn’t match the government’s own figure
The HHS Office of Inspector General’s own page headlines this case as a loss of “nearly $11 million,” but its body text states the loss as approximately $1,069,384.38, nearly $1.1 million, a hundredfold difference that is clearly a typographical error in the headline rather than two different figures. This page uses the $1,069,384.38 figure stated in the body text and repeated by independent news coverage of the same charges.
The caveat
Patel has been charged by information, not convicted. Everything above, including every dollar figure and every description of what Patel is alleged to have done, is an allegation from a charging document, not a proven fact, and Patel is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
Sources
- Bensalem Woman Charged in Home Care Fraud Kickback Scheme That Caused Loss to Medicaid of Nearly $11 Million. HHS Office of Inspector General. Accessed 2026-10-24. Supports: Patel's name, age and Bensalem, Pennsylvania residence, the alleged kickback and billing scheme, the approximately $1,069,384.38 Medicaid loss figure, the charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute, the June 30, 2025 announcement as part of the 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, and the investigating agencies (note the page's own headline figure of 'nearly $11 million' does not match the $1,069,384.38 loss stated in its body text, which is the figure used here).
- Bucks County Woman Charged in National Health Care Fraud Case. MyChesCo. Accessed 2026-10-24. Supports: The forged doctors' signatures on eligibility certification forms, the use of personal identifying information without consent including for people living abroad, and the charges filed.