According to the Georgia Attorney General's Office, two people have been charged with stealing more than $977,000 from Georgia Medicaid between July 2013 and end August 2014. Criminal charges are serious in nature and should be treated as such, but health care fraud allegations have the potential to shut down the accused's place of business in addition to affecting their professional reputation. Sometimes accusations are the result of misunderstanding a business model or sometimes the case can be something else. Whatever the situation, when charges are pressed, consulting an experienced attorney can help prevent the case from going any further.
One of the accused owned and operated an athletics company and the other owned and operated a health services company with branches in various locations in Georgia. Allegedly, both these companies were enrolled in Medicaid and were supposedly providing services and charging them to the Georgia Medicaid program.
The State alleges that the athletics company owner got the Medicaid numbers from children's parents through the pretense of running various community after-school programs. Then, according to the state, he gave the numbers to the owner of the health services company to use for billing purposes. Allegedly, the two billed Medicaid for services that were never provided by either company. The State purports the two stole more than $977,000 from Georgia Medicaid.
There are many ways to combat allegations and fighting them aggressively in court is one way. Another is to approach the prosecution to negotiate a deal. Depending on the accused's individual circumstances, an experienced defense attorney can prepare a defense and help the accused rebuild their personal and professional life.
Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle, "Two charged with 977K in Georgia Medicaid fraud," Nov. 10, 2014