You may have noticed that the Allegiant Experts Blog covers a variety of news stories involving both medical misconduct and healthcare insurance from all over the United States – and sometimes Canada. And that’s purposeful. Our message is that fraud can occur in many forms and is not particularly prone to any one part of our continent. Sadly, misconduct and fraud in the medical field is a huge problem that, quite frankly, spans the globe.
The team, here at Allegiant Experts, begins the year 2017 with a renewed commitment to do its part in bringing fraudsters to justice by offering its clinical expert services to attorneys who are trying cases against those who have abused our nation’s health insurance programs. In addition, we have dedicated ourselves to providing our expert advice in cases that seek to address medical malpractice.
As mentioned, these are ongoing problems that we’d like to see – at the very least – reduced in the years to come. Stories of healthcare fraud continue to circulate. In fact, just before the new year, Valerie Waltz of Fox43.com, reported that Rose Umana, the owner and operator of Vision Healthcare Services, Inc. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was convicted of defrauding Medicaid. On December 28th, she was sentenced to three years in prison for her crimes.
According to Waltz, the 49 year-old was found guilty of “making false statements relating to health care matters, engaging in monetary transactions involving criminally-derived property, and identity theft.” Umana’s criminal actions took place between January 2012 and January 2014 and involved creating false identification documents and fictitious occupational licenses for workers.
She would then submit bills to Medicaid for medical services that were not provided by the workers. As well, she billed Medicaid for services that were provided by someone other than the person she claimed to be the provider. All in all, Umana illegally made off with more than $1 million. Waltz reports that in addition to her three years in jail, Umana will be required to pay back all of the money she fraudulently attained from Medicaid.
“Medicaid is the joint federal-state program that provides health care and nursing home coverage to low asset/income individuals,” Waltz explains, “Investigators say the total loss resulting from Umana’s scheme was $1,184,224. In addition to serving three years behind bars, a Judge also ordered Umana to pay $1,184,224 in restitution and ordered the forfeiture of $656,421. Umana was ordered to report to prison on January 23, 2017.”
As previously mentioned, the team of clinical experts, here at Allegiant Experts, would like to begin the new year by strengthening our commitment to attorneys who are battling these types of fraud cases in court. For more information about our experience, expertise and how we may be able help your case, please don’t hesitate to call us at 407-217-5831 or email us at info@allegiantexperts.com.