Area healthcare company owner guilty of Medicaid fraud

Ambulette companies are big business in Ohio. Ambulette fraud is the number two type of Medicaid fraud in Ohio. Officials from seven companies in Ohio were criminally convicted last year and two more this year. And the Ohio Attorney Generals Office has 57 open investigations. A Dayton Daily News analysis of state data found state audits found 29 of 30 audits conducted since 2007 found over-billing of Medicaid. The total amount over-billed was $10.8 million. We also found that a tool to catch fraud is ineffective because it is based on self-reported information that is wildly inaccurate. Ambulettes are often seen taking patients to and from dialysis centers like this one in Dayton. TY GREENLEES / STAFF

Ambulette companies are big business in Ohio. Ambulette fraud is the number two type of Medicaid fraud in Ohio. Officials from seven companies in Ohio were criminally convicted last year and two more this year. And the Ohio Attorney Generals Office has 57 open investigations. A Dayton Daily News analysis of state data found state audits found 29 of 30 audits conducted since 2007 found over-billing of Medicaid. The total amount over-billed was $10.8 million. We also found that a tool to catch fraud is ineffective because it is based on self-reported information that is wildly inaccurate. Ambulettes are often seen taking patients to and from dialysis centers like this one in Dayton. TY GREENLEES / STAFF
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March 9, 2017
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The owners of a home healthcare agency that had offices in Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus were found guilty this week of Medicaid fraud, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

A jury found Ethel Freeman-Nnonah, 48, of Columbus, guilty of felony counts of Medicaid fraud, theft, forgery, and tampering with evidence.

RELATED: Auditor: Darke Co. ambulance company over-billed Medicaid by $448,00

Nnonah was director of clinical services at Prudent Healthcare Services LLC, and falsified and forged medical assessments and patient plans-of-care and ordered numerous employees to do the same, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Authorities say Nnonah and co-defendant Tinisee Harris, 45, also tampered with patient files they were ordered to produce pursuant to a subpoena served on the company’s Dayton office.

RELATED: Medicare fraudsters used UPS boxes to fleece millions from taxpayers

Nnonah’s actions resulted in more than $101,000 in improper payments to the company from the Ohio Department of Medicaid, the state says.

Harris of Reynoldsburg was found guilty of felony counts of Medicaid fraud and tampering with evidence. He was a company administrator.

RELATED: Ohio tops in Medicaid fraud indictments

The guilty verdicts followed a seven-day trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. The two are scheduled for sentencing April 13.

The case was investigated and prosecuted by the Ohio AG’s Health Care Fraud Section.

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Josh Sweigart is an investigative reporter at the Dayton Daily News. His stories have focused on government waste, fraud, abuse and accountability in southwest Ohio, as well as the statehouse and U.S. Capitol.