A Missouri woman has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison and ordered to repay $2.5 million for fraudulently enrolling her business in Missouri Medicaid and billing the agency for services never provided, the Justice Department said Sept. 27.
Barbara Martin, 63, of St. Charles, Mo., pled guilty in June to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and bank fraud conspiracy.
Ms. Martin was the director of Legacy Consumer Directed Services, a business providing in-home healthcare. Ms. Martin enrolled the business in the Missouri Medicaid program in 2013, and falsely listed her daughter, Zamika Walls, 38, as the company's director.
Ms. Martin and her sister, Margo Taylor, 66, ran the day-to-day operations of the company.
"Had Martin listed her name or Taylor's, the application would not have been approved as they did not meet the enrollment criteria," the Justice Department said in a news release. "On the application, Martin falsely checked 'no' in response to the question asking whether the applying provider had ever been convicted of a crime."
Legacy Consumer Directed Services billed the Missouri Medicaid program over $2.5 million between 2014 and 2020, some of which was for services that were never provided. Investigators found Ms. Martin and Ms. Walls submitted claims indicating they were providing clients in-home care during times they were traveling to Miami, Las Vegas and Atlanta.
The mother-daughter duo also admitted to submitting a fraudulent paycheck protection loan application for the business.
Ms. Walls pled guilty to the same charges as her mother and was sentenced to 12 to 15 months in prison.
Ms. Taylor, Ms. Martin's sister, pled guilty to two counts of healthcare fraud and is awaiting sentencing.