ATLANTA – A Decatur company has been implicated in a massive, $2 billion Medicare fraud.
Federal officials on Thursday announced the largest-ever health care fraud enforcement action by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, involving more than 590 defendants across 56 federal districts, including more than 150 doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals.
Of those charged, more than 150 defendants, including doctors, were charged for their roles in prescribing and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics.
The defendants are accused of participating in health care fraud schemes involving about $2 billion in false billings.
The Decatur company implicated in the scheme was Casa Luisa Inc., owned and operated by Rosa Fitzhugh.
Prosecutors said from January 2015 until October 2017, Fitzhugh billed or directed others to fraudulently bill over $2.4 million to Medicaid CMOs by billing for individual and family psychotherapy services that were not provided, billed or entitled to reimbursement.
“Health care fraud steals valuable resources from individuals who are most in need of the funds that support medical services and programs,” said U. S. Attorney Byung J. Pak. “We will continue to focus our efforts on aggressively investigating and prosecuting medical professionals and others who defraud our healthcare system.”
“Health care fraud is a betrayal of vulnerable patients, and often it is theft from the taxpayer,” said U.S. Attorney Jeff General Sessions. “In many cases, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists take advantage of people suffering from drug addiction in order to line their pockets. These are despicable crimes.”
11ALIVE RECENT HEADLINES FROM THE OPIOID CRISIS
► 'Broke his arm to get more prescription opioids': New WH ad features Atlnata man
► New drug available to Fulton County inmates suffering from opioid withdrawal
► House set to vote on dozens of bills aimed at fighting deadly opioid crisis
► Girl who lost parents to heroin starts over: `I want a family
► Drugged driving on the rise as marijuana, opioid use puts motorists at risk
Sign up for The Speed Feed newsletter below to get the latest headlines in your inbox each weekday!