(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 charged with four counts of Health Care Fraud.
A federal grand jury indicted Beth Stein, 54, of Amelia, on the charges yesterday. The suspect is believed to have caused more than $100,000 in excessive billings to Medicare, Medicaid and other healthcare benefit providers.
"Deceiving Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurers by overbilling for services contributes to the rising costs of healthcare,” said Attorney General DeWine. "In this case, investigators found that the defendant manipulated the insurance reimbursement process in order to receive higher payments and instructed her employees to do the same in order to maximize revenue."
"We will continue to work closely with other federal and state agencies to ferret out fraud against the health care programs designed to help Ohioans receive quality care,” said Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
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.
According to the indictment, Stein fraudulently obtained reimbursement for the products between 2005 and 2012 by:
- Billing for a larger quantity of stocking 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 is being prosecuted jointly by attorneys with Ohio Attorney General DeWine's office and U.S. Attorney Carter's office.
A copy of the indictment can be found here.
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Media Contacts:
Dan Tierney: 614-466-3840
Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840