A Louisiana nurse practitioner was convicted by a federal jury for her role in a $2 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Four things to know:
Shanone Chatman-Ashley, 45, of Opelousas, worked as an independent contractor for a company that claimed to provide telehealth services to Medicare beneficiaries, according to a May 2 Justice Department news release.
Ms. Chatman-Ashley routinely ordered knee braces, suspension sleeves and other types of durable medical equipment for patients who had not been examined by her or another provider. She concealed the scheme by signing documentation falsely certifying that she had consulted with the beneficiaries and personally conducted assessments of them.
From 2017 to 2019, she signed more than 1,000 orders for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment in exchange for kickbacks and bribes. She caused more than $2 million in false claims to be submitted to Medicare, of which $1 million was reimbursed.
The jury convicted her on five counts of healthcare fraud. She is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each count.