Seeing Things in a Different Light

How we see ourselves can be very different from how others see us. The owner and operator of a medical staffing company and home care services provider in Pennsylvania definitely saw herself in a different light than the government prosecutors who went after her for stealing more than $1 million from Medicaid. On the woman’s company website, she describes herself as an “experienced nurse with impeccable skills.” However, a more accurate explanation may have been an “experienced fraudster with impeccable skills in deception.”

Over a two-year period, the business owner carried out her scam by creating fake identification documents and bogus occupational licenses for some of her employees. She also submitted bills to Medicaid for services that were either not provided by her employees, were provided by someone other than the person that claimed to provide the services, or were not provided by a qualified employee at all. (That’s a pretty scary thought. Who would want to receive medical care from someone who was not qualified to give it?)

Although the woman had the right credentials and certifications to run her company, she was anything but impeccable. The 49-year-old pleaded guilty to making false statements about health care matters, engaging in monetary transactions involving criminally derived property and identity theft. She was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay back $1,184,224 and forfeit $656,421.
In addition to claiming that she had “impeccable skills,” the company website also stated that the business “would not shield any errors or omissions to protect our image.”

It looks like the government is holding this woman to her word. Let’s hope that she spends the next three years behind bars examining her lack of character and will emerge with a more accurate self-image and remorse for her illegal actions.