February 4, 2014 — Dental Medicaid fraud robs the American taxpayers of millions in tax dollars. Under the False Claims Act, dental practice insiders are empowered to bring a whistleblower claim on the government’s behalf to stop Medicaid fraud. The qui tam provisions of the Act provide tipsters with a significant share of the government’s recovery.
Dental Office Employee Submitted False Claims to Private Insurers for Services Never Performed
Malentha Robinson-Taylor, of Cordova, South Carolina, has been sentenced in federal court for conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Robinson-Taylor received a 51-month prison term and was ordered to pay back more than $125,000 in restitution.
Robinson-Taylor worked for a dental practice located in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The woman and her husband, R.L. Robinson-Taylor, concocted a scheme in which the couple recruited Blue Cross Blue Shield policy holders to provide their insurance policy numbers to them. Mrs. Robinson-Taylor used the policy numbers to submit false claims to the insurance company, representing that the people had been treated by Robinson-Taylor’s employer. In reality, the dentist had never seen the Blue Cross Blue Shield beneficiaries. The insurance company would send checks directly to its insureds, who in turn would divide the proceeds from the scam with the Robinson-Taylors.
According to the Times and Democrat, the couple submitted $800,000 in false claims and the insurance company paid out $368,000 on those false claims. For Mrs. Robinson-Taylor’s share of the health care fraud scam, she received $126,000.
Blowing the Whistle on Medicaid Fraud by Unscrupulous Dentists
Although the false claims filed in this case involved a private insurer, fraudulent dental claims frequently are made to federally-funded healthcare programs, such as Medicaid, in violation of the False Claims Act. With offices in three states from coast to coast, Waters & Kraus has established a national presence with its results in qui tam cases. Contact us by email or phone our dental Medicaid fraud lawyers at 855.784.0268 to learn more about our whistleblower practice.
