The owner of a Boston-based home health agency and an employee have been arrested in connection with allegedly stealing nearly $2.7 million from MassHealth by routinely overbilling and falsely billing for services that were not authorized or provided to patients.

Elena Kurbatzky, age 44, of Boston, and Natan Zalyapin, age 43, of Burlington, were arrested Monday night by Massachusetts state police assigned to the attorney general’s office. A Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments charging Kurbatzky, Zalyapin and the company, Harmony Home Health Care LLC (Harmony), on Monday.

Kurbatzky is the sole owner Harmony. The agency provides home health services to individuals covered by the MassHealth program, including skilled nursing, home health aide visits and physical, occupational and speech therapies. Kurbatzky and Zalyapin are both registered nurses and allegedly provided the majority of nursing services to Harmony’s patients.

The attorney general’s office began an investigation after the matter was referred by MassHealth, which suspected misconduct and fraudulent billing practices.

The investigation revealed that between February 2015 and October 2016, Harmony billed MassHealth for home health services allegedly provided to 38 patients, but either provided no services to those patients or billed for more services than were actually provided.

Specifically, authorities allege that on numerous instances, Harmony billed MassHealth for nurses who allegedly provided services to several patients in different locations at the exact same time, so those services could not physically have been performed as claimed.

The defendants also billed MassHealth for services that were not authorized by physicians and, in many cases, forged physician signatures on the patient plans of care in an attempt to show the services were authorized.

The defendants also allegedly billed for services never provided to MassHealth members, including instances where the company billed for home health services while members were at inpatient facilities. Kurbatzky and Zalyapin also billed MassHealth for services that were not provided while they were traveling or while Zalyapin was working at other jobs.

The defendants billed for physical, occupational and speech therapy for the majority of Harmony’s MassHealth patients even though the services were not authorized by the patients’ physicians and Harmony did not employ licensed therapists to perform the alleged services.

Kurbatzky also allegedly made false statements or failed to disclose material facts in order to make herself eligible for MassHealth. She then allegedly billed MassHealth for services she purportedly received from Harmony that were not authorized by a physician.

The attorney general’s office alleges that the defendants defrauded MassHealth of nearly $2.7 million dollars.

Kurbatzky was indicted on charges of Medicaid false claims (three counts), larceny over $250 by False Pretenses (three counts) and Medicaid member eligibility fraud (one count). Zalyapin was indicted on charges of Medicaid false claims (two counts) and larceny over $250 by false pretenses (two counts). Harmony was indicted on charges of Medicaid false claims (three counts) and larceny over $250 by false pretenses (three counts).

Kurbatzky and Zalyapin were arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court today where they pleaded not guilty to the charges. Zalyapin was released on personal recognizance and Kurbatzky was transferred to Boston Municipal Court on an outstanding warrant. They are scheduled to appear in Suffolk Superior Court for a hearing on Aug. 8. The company will be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on Aug. 8.