North Carolina woman sentenced in Medicaid fraud case
(The Center Square) – A former Sanford woman was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay restitution after defrauding the North Carolina Medicaid Program.
Law enforcement officials said Andrea Monique Purnell billed Medicaid for services patients at her facility did not receive.
“This person defrauded Medicaid of money that should have gone to people’s health care,” Attorney General Josh Stein said in a statement Monday. “My office will continue to hold people responsible when they cheat taxpayers.”
Purnell’s Extended Reach Day Treatment for Children and Adolescents provided day treatment services and other behavioral health services. Officials said from 2013 to 2016, Purnell added extra day treatment services she never provided in her claim submissions for patients with Medicaid. Purnell also billed Medicaid for psychotherapy services from a licensed medical physician that the physician did not provide. As a result, the state’s Medicaid program lost $337,615.
Purnell pleaded guilty to one count of Medicaid provider fraud in the Eastern District of North Carolina in March 2019. She must pay back the state the $337,615 along with $100 in special assessments, and she will serve 24 months in prison and be under supervised release for three years.
The case was conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General and the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Investigations Division (MID).
According to the attorney general’s office, MID has recovered more than $900 million for the Medicaid program and obtained more than 450 criminal convictions in fraud and abuse cases.
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