A federal jury has convicted a Farmington Hills woman in a $1.6 million Medicare fraud and kickback scheme that prosecutors say turned stolen hospital records into easy money. The case centers on claims that a Detroit-area home-health operator used confidential patient files to bill Medicare for services that were never properly documented or never provided at all.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release, Ruby Scott, 55, owner of Delta Home Health Care LLC, bribed a discharge nurse at a Detroit hospital to identify Medicare beneficiaries and fax their records to her company without patient consent. Prosecutors told jurors Scott paid roughly $100 for each referral and about $300 for every patient she then billed to Medicare, ultimately paying the nurse more than $130,000 through CashApp, PayPal, checks, and cash. The jury found Scott guilty on multiple counts, and she is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 24.
As reported by CBS Detroit, trial evidence showed that some of the doctors listed on claims had never actually met the patients. Jurors also heard that Delta failed to maintain files for more than a third of the claims it submitted. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Detroit Field Office and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General led the investigation.
How prosecutors say the scheme worked
Testimony sketched out a straightforward but costly pipeline: a discharge nurse at the Detroit hospital identified Medicare patients, then faxed their private medical records to Delta without the patients’ knowledge. Scott used those records to prepare and submit claims that, prosecutors said, falsely stated physicians had certified the patients as qualifying for home-health services.
According to trial evidence, Scott sometimes created or altered physician evaluations while using the names of real doctors. Medicare ultimately paid Delta about $1.2 million on the claims tied to the scheme, contributing to a total loss of roughly $1.6 million to the program, per a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
State action and wider enforcement
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services placed Delta Home Health Care on summary suspension in August 2024, according to the state's sanctioned-provider list (MDHHS). The case also comes amid stepped-up national enforcement: the HHS Office of Inspector General has described a 2025 health-care fraud takedown that charged hundreds of defendants and alleged more than $14.6 billion in intended losses (HHS-OIG).
What comes next
Scott is set for federal sentencing on Sept. 24 and could face significant prison time if the court follows the fraud and kickback statutes in calculating her punishment. Prosecutors will submit their recommendations, and the judge will determine any restitution and forfeiture while investigators continue reviewing related financial and medical records.
