Louisiana Social Worker Pleads Guilty To Attempting To Defraud Medicaid Of $1.8 Million

A licensed clinical social worker in Louisiana pled guilty last week to his involvement in an attempt at defrauding Medicaid of over $1.8 million in false claims.

Per investigators, the 66-year-old supervisory-level licensed clinical social worker was one of several primary care providers to a school in the area. He allegedly provided character development seminars and other such programs to entire classrooms on a regular basis, then submitted claims that the seminars were a form of group psychotherapy that was eligible for reimbursement by Medicaid. Additionally, in an effort at bolstering the claims made to Medicaid, investigators say he diagnosed several students with various types of mental disorders.

Federal prosecutors say that, over the course of the time he worked for the district, he submitted over $1.8 million in false claims to Medicaid in this manner.

The defendant pled guilty to a single count of health care fraud in the chambers of U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles of the Middle District of Louisiana last week. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

The charges in question are the result of an investigation by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, which is a team of agents from the Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. To date the team has charged almost 4,000 individuals with fraud totaling over $14 billion.

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