100,000+ vs wehre are the BILLIONS?????

Department of Justice
Eastern District of Virginia


Alexandria Newport News Norfolk Richmond



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Jim Rybicki
Public Information Officer
Phone (703) 842-4050 Fax: (703) 549-5202
Email: usavae.press@usdoj.gov
Web Address: www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae

May 21, 2008
Further Information Contact:
Deanna Warren
Phone: (757) 441-6331


Medicaid Provider Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud(Norfolk, VA) - Sharon M. Honeycutt, age 54, of Portsmouth, pled guilty today in United States District Court to health care fraud in connection with her operation of a Portsmouth home healthcare business. Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after Honeycutt's plea was tendered to United States Magistrate Judge Tommy E. Miller. Honeycutt will be sentenced on September 23, 2008.
According to court documents, Honeycutt is the owner and operator of Ace Homecare, a Medicaid provider of durable medical equipment, including catheters, gloves, nutritional supplements and adult diapers. Under a Medicaid provider agreement, Ace Homecare, located in Portsmouth, Virginia, was entitled to receive payment from Medicaid for providing these items to Medicaid recipients in accordance with a physician's written order. Between March 2003 and September 2005, Honeycutt filed claims for providing these items when there was no written order from a physician. She filed these claims not only in the name of her own company, but also through another Medicaid provider in an arrangement which she concealed from Medicaid. When the records of Ace Homecare and the other Medicaid provider were audited, Honeycutt prepared for submission to Medicaid auditors 22 false Certificates of Medical Necessity which included forged physician signatures and false patient information. A total of approximately 1,500 fraudulent claims were filed for 22 Medicaid recipients, resulting in a loss to Medicaid of approximately $101,783.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Virginia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Alan M. Salsbury is prosecuting the case for the United States.