Kentucky ambulance service accused of lying to get payments from Medicare, Medicaid

[TexasTowelie]

Managers at an ambulance service in Breathitt County defrauded taxpayer-funded health plans by submitting false bills, a federal grand jury has charged.

The grand jury indicted Arrow-Med Ambulance; owner Hershel Jay Arrowood; his wife, Lesa Arrowood, who handled billing; and Terry Herald, who was a manager at the company.

The four are charged with one count of conspiring to commit health care fraud and 14 counts of aiding and abetting each other to submit false bills from September 2012 to August 2015.

They allegedly billed Medicare and Medicaid for transporting people for dialysis and other treatment when it wasn’t medically necessary for them to go by ambulance.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article154020399.html

[TlalocW]

1. I always knew

Mother, Jugs, Speed... and the 4th one would go down hard one day.

TlalocW

[Lint Head]

2. This kind of fraud has been going on for a long time.

I worked in the Medicare industry troubleshooting overpayments and fraud cases. Ambulances not associated with a hospital are the main culprits. Using the ambulance as a taxi service and billing for emergencies. Durable Medical Equipment, crutches, wheelchairs, oxygen canisters etc. is also another source of fraud.
These types of companies are run by people with no particular expertise in the medical field or degrees.
Anyone can get a standard business license and open shop.