Couple Pleads Guilty in Medicare Fraud Case
Medical provider submits false statements to Medicare between 2009 and 2010.
A 60-year-old couple from Stringer, Mississippi, pled guilty in a case that involved making false statements to Medicare, according to a press release by theDepartment of Justice.
On December 16, 2016, Larry Carlton Jenkins pled guilty to 1 count of making a false statement relating to a health care matter, according to the release. Annie Elizabeth Jenkins was also charged, and pled guilty to 1 count of committing a misprision of felony.
The crimes were committed from November 2009 to August 2010 through their company, Available Medical Supplies, Inc (AMS), according to the release. AMS, which purported to provide medical equipment and compounded inhalation drugs, was owned and operated by the Jenkins.
During this time period, Larry Jenkins used AMS to represent on insurance claims that the inhalation drugs reflected on such claims for reimbursement were non-compounded inhalation drugs, according to the Department of Justice.
Starting July 1, 2007, CMS revised its nationwide policy of compounded inhalation solutions, stating that all compounded inhalation solutions were denied as not medically necessary for dates of service on or after July 1, 2007.
At the direction of Larry Jenkins, AMS continued to compound inhalation drugs after July 2007, but it billed Medicare for reimbursement anyway, claiming they were non-compounded drugs.
Although Annie Jenkins was aware of the false statements being made, she failed to notify authorities, and she took affirmative action to conceal the fraudulent billing, according to the release.
The US District Judge Keith Starrett will sentence the Jenkins on March 7, 2017, at 10 am. Larry Jenkins faces a maximum prison sentence of 5 years and a $250,000 fine, while Annie Jenkins faces a maximum sentence of 3 years and a $250,000 fine.
