Medicaid

September 25, 2007 -- Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff filed a lawsuit against ten pharmaceutical manufacturers for defrauding Utah’s Medicaid program in a scheme that cost state taxpayers approximately $114 million over the past decade. The suit alleges the companies wrongfully inflated prices for generic prescriptions for Medicaid patients.    » read more »

Company Received More Than $4,000,000 for Services Never Rendered

BALTIMORE, MD (September 20, 2007) - Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Guy Anthony Bell, 44, of the 2700 block of Tallow Tree Road in Woodstock, pled guilty in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to two counts of felony Medicaid Fraud for his role in billing the Medicaid program for more than $4,000,000 for services that were never performed. In all, Mr. Bell knowingly directed his employees to submit over 20,000 false statements to the Medicaid Program.    » read more »

September 18, 2007 -- OLYMPIA – Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna announced today that the state's Medicaid program will be reimbursed nearly $2.7 million as part of a settlement with drug manufacturers Purdue Pharma and Purdue Frederick Company. The settlement stems from allegations the company improperly marketed the pain medication OxyContin to health providers.    » read more »

First Time State and City Bring Joint Action to Fight Medicaid Fraud; Suit Claims Merck & Co. Endangered Patients, Cost Medicaid Millions

September 17, 2007 -- New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today filed a joint lawsuit against the maker of Vioxx for misrepresenting the dangers the drug posed to its users.    » read more »

FirstTime State and City Bring Joint Action to Fight Medicaid Fraud; Suit claims Merck & Co. endangered patients, cost Medicaid millions

NEW YORK, NY (September 17, 2007) – New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg today filed a joint lawsuit against the maker of Vioxx for misrepresenting the dangers the drug posed to its users.    » read more »

September 13, 2007 -- Jefferson City, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon today presented the Missouri Medicaid program with a check in the amount of $2,470,530. The money is the state’s portion of $160 million that prescription drug manufacturer Purdue Pharma agreed to pay to the federal government and state Medicaid programs to compensate them for damages caused by the misbranding of the pain medication OxyContin. The settlement, announced by Nixon on Aug. 14, resolves allegations that Purdue Pharma improperly marketed OxyContin to health care providers using false claims.    » read more »

September 5, 2007 -- TALLAHASSEE, FL – Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced the arrest of a Palm Beach County woman charged with stealing more than $20,000 from the Florida Medicaid Program. Amy Heather Spielman was taken into custody by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit after investigators revealed a scheme of submitting false billing claims to the Medicaid program for speech pathology services never rendered.    » read more »

(Wednesday, Aug. 29) – Vermont's Congressional Delegation – Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Peter Welch -- has asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to reconsider a decision that hampers Vermont’s efforts to bring health care to the uninsured through the Catamount Health Care program passed last year by the Vermont Legislature.    » read more »

08/29/2007 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Governor Eliot Spitzer today sent the following letter to the President regarding new federal rules that would severely limit states’ ability to provide health insurance to children:

August 29, 2007

The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,    » read more »

National leader in assisted living falsely billed Medicaid

August 28, 2007 -- AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott reached a Medicaid fraud settlement with one of the nation’s largest assisted living facility operators in Texas. Seattle-based Emeritus Corp. has remitted $1.86 million to Texas to resolve the company’s false and inaccurate billing to the Medicaid program. According to the Attorney General’s investigation, Emeritus deprived its residents of legally required amenities and services.    » read more »

Operators of agency knowingly employed unqualified aides; Recruited providers of bogus certifications; Caused Medicaid to be billed for no-show jobs

August 27, 2007 -- New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo’s industry-wide crackdown on fraudulent Medicaid home care providers has resulted in the convictions of a Brooklyn Licensed Home Care Services agency (LHCSA) and its principals who stole millions from Medicaid by employing unqualified, uncertified home health aides and causing Medicaid to be billed for services never rendered.    » read more »

Governor addresses first Kentucky Summit on Children

August 27, 2007 -- FRANKFORT, Ky. – At the first Kentucky Summit on Children, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher today described shifting the focus of Kentucky’s child welfare system to emphasize prevention, in the same way the administration has transformed Kentucky Medicaid.    » read more »

August 24, 2007 -- Jefferson City, Mo. — Missourians who blow the whistle on Medicaid fraud by healthcare providers soon may be eligible for a portion of any money recovered by the state, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said. Under a new law that takes effect Aug. 28, any person who is the original source of information used by the Attorney General to recover money for the state may receive 10 percent of the state’s recovery.    » read more »

August 24, 2007 -- INDIANAPOLIS, IN – William Higdon, who co-owned businesses that provided taxicab services in Jasper, Indiana, has pled guilty to defrauding Indiana’s Medicaid program. From June 2004 through February 2006, Higdon submitted fraudulent claims of nearly $300,000 to Medicaid for transportation services of Medicaid patients.

“Anytime there is fraud perpetrated against Medicaid, our most vulnerable citizens suffer,” Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter said. “We continue to work with federal authorities to aggressively weed out deception in the program.”    » read more »

August 22, 2007 -- TALLAHASSEE, FL – Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced the arrest of an Alachua County man accused of billing the Florida Medicaid program for services he never provided. Terence Pollard was under contract with the Medicaid program to help recipients locate and secure various forms of employment, but submitted more than $4,400 of fraudulent claims to the Medicaid program. He was arrested by authorities with the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.    » read more »