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(CINCINNATI) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike
DeWine and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Carter Stewart
announced today that the former office manager for the Cincinnati and Northern
Kentucky office of Compass Healthcare, Inc., has been sentenced to prison after
a jury found her guilty of overbilling for services.
United
States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Judge Michael R.
Barrett sentenced Beth Stein, 55, of Amelia, to serve one year and one day in
prison. The judge also ordered her to pay a total of $199,155.83 in
restitution to Medicaid, Medicare, Anthem BlueCross BlueShield, and Humana.
A
federal jury found Stein guilty of six counts of health care fraud and one
count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in June.
"We
are pleased that this defendant was sentenced to serve time in prison because
it sends the message that health care fraud is a very serious crime, and those
who break the law will be held accountable," said Attorney General
DeWine.
“This case illustrates the
commitment from state and federal agencies to combat health care fraud,” U.S.
Attorney Stewart said. “We expect honest, high quality care from providers.”
Compass Healthcare, which operates a regional
office in Montgomery, Ohio, is a medical equipment supply company which sells
various products, including prescription compression stockings used to improve
blood flow.
Stein was convicted of fraudulently obtaining
reimbursement for the products between 2005 and 2012 by:
- Billing
for larger quantities of stockings than was actually given to the patient
- Providing
a lower-grade level of stocking to the patient but billing the insurer for a
higher-grade of stocking or custom product
- Forging
or creating fake prescriptions or Certificates of Medical Necessity from
physicians to support a bill for a higher-grade or custom stocking
The case was investigated by agents with the
Ohio Attorney General's Health Care Fraud Section, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S.
Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The case
was prosecuted jointly by attorneys with Ohio Attorney General DeWine's office
and U.S. Attorney Stewart's office.
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