A Glendale woman has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for her role in a scheme that involved paying and receiving illegal kickbacks for patient referrals, resulting in the submission of approximately $10.6 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for hospice care.
Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, 75, received a 108-month sentence from United States District Judge Dolly M. Gee, who also ordered her to pay over $8.2 million in restitution. At a separate hearing, Judge Gee sentenced Percy Dean Abrams, 75, of Lakewood, to three years of probation with two years of home confinement.
Following a six-day trial that concluded in December 2024, a federal jury found Palma guilty on 12 counts of health care fraud and 16 counts related to illegal kickbacks for health care referrals. Abrams was found guilty on six counts of receiving illegal kickbacks.
Palma had previously been excluded from participating in Medicare due to earlier convictions involving illegal kickbacks. Despite this exclusion, she purchased Magnolia Gardens Hospice through her daughter and acquired C@A Hospice through her husband in 2015. She concealed her ownership interests from Medicare authorities.
According to prosecutors, Palma paid marketers—including Abrams—hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks for referring patients who could be billed as hospice recipients under Medicare. “Hospice is only for those who are terminally ill and have a life expectancy of six months or less. Hospice provides comfort care to a patient instead of trying to cure the patient’s illness, and a patient forfeits certain benefits under Medicare when electing hospice,” stated officials.
Prosecutors said Abrams told prospective patients they did not need to be dying to receive hospice care and collected personal information from individuals who were not terminally ill. This information was sent to Palma so she could bill Medicare for purported hospice services.
Through Magnolia Gardens Hospice and C@A Hospice, fraudulent claims totaling about $10.6 million were submitted beginning in 2015 for patients who were not terminally ill as required by law. Prosecutors said Palma received around $6,000 per month per patient billed under these false pretenses and paid marketers up to $1,000 per month per referred patient.
Many affected patients reportedly did not know they had been signed up for hospice until they were denied coverage for other medical services they needed.
When Medicare requested supporting documentation during its review process, court records indicate that Palma and her husband instructed employees to create fake patient charts which were then submitted as evidence. Court documents also allege that while awaiting trial on these charges, Palma took control of three additional hospices and caused another $4.8 million worth of claims to be submitted.
The investigation was conducted by the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the FBI.
Assistant United States Attorney Roger A. Hsieh (Major Frauds Section) and Matt Coe-Odess (Domestic Security and Immigration Crimes Section) prosecuted the case.
