Medicaid Fraud in the State of Virginia - Essay Example

Medicaid Fraud in the State of VirginiaA court in Norfolk, Virginia, has sentenced Angie L. Gilchrist, 58, to 33 months in prioson and a three-year term of supervised release for defrauding the Virginia Medicaid Program. Gilchrist has also been ordered to pay the sum of $294,713 as restitution to the Virginia Medicaid Program (The United States Attorney general’s Office, 2013). The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neil H. MacBride made this announcement. The ruling comes in the wake of a guilty plea that Gilchrist made on February 19, 2013.

Investigations into the case reveal how individuals are defrauding the Medicaid program in Virginia and elsewhere in the US. They set up a personal care service center that is duly authorized to provide respite care to Medicaid recipients. Respite care is usually given by the family or another unpaid primary caregiver of the recipient. Having set up authorized respite care centers for Medicaid beneficiaries, such individuals then proceed to file false or fraudulent claims for reimbursement from the Medicaid program.

Gilchrist claimed reimbursement for 38 non-existent medicaid patients for which her company received approximately $294,713 (The United States Attorney general’s Office, 2013). Cases of fraud on the Medicaid program have dire implications. This is especially the case when the US Government is lobbying to increase Medicare coverage to more americans, especially the poor and those who cannot afford health insurance covers. For this reason, states have taken measures to arrest the problem. The state of Virginia, for instance, has set up the Virginia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit to deal with defrauders through legal means.

ReferencesThe United States Attorney’s Office (2013) Provider of Home Health care Services Sentenced for Medicaid Fraud. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/news/2013/06/20130613gilchristnr.html