Warwick woman sentenced for Medicaid fraud

PROVIDENCE – A 57-year-old Warwick woman pleaded no contest recently to Medicaid fraud for submitting false bills for patient incontinence supplies, Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin said Wednesday.
Deborah Brown appeared before Superior Court Magistrate John F. McBurney on one count of obtaining money under false pretenses for submitting materially false bills for the supplies to the state Medicaid program and on three counts of failure to file personal Rhode Island income tax returns from 2011-13.
“The defendant and her boss concocted an elaborate scheme to bill our Medicaid program for hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical supplies that were never purchased or needed. As one of the state’s single largest expenditures, it is critical for the system to be free from such fraud and abuse and to ensure that each Medicaid dollar is used for legitimate health care services and products that patients truly need,” Kilmartin said in a statement.

According to the release from Kilmartin’s office, under the terms of the plea, Brown was sentenced to 10 years with four years to serve, of which six months will be served at the Adult Correctional Institute followed by three and a half years of home confinement. She also was ordered to pay $263,130 in restitution.
The state said it was ready to prove that Brown, while working for Northeast Pedorthics, a durable medical equipment and incontinent supply company, submitted false bills to the Rhode Island Medicaid Program for medically unnecessary patient incontinent supplies which the Rhode Island Medicaid program then paid to Northeast Pedorthics.
The case against David Chandonnet, Northeast Pedorthics owner, is pending.
Chandonnet has been charged with 17 counts of medical assistance fraud, one count of obtaining money under false pretenses for Medicaid fraud, and three counts of failure to file Rhode Island income tax returns for a non-resident having Rhode Island income for the years 2011-13.

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