Koster collects $50M in Medicaid fraud last year

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster's office collected more than $50 million and took action against 49 providers in 2012.

A news release pointed to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, indicating Missouri ranked No. 2 in the region and No. 3 nationwide in recoveries per grant dollar, Koster said.

“My office is committed to aggressively pursuing medical and home health care providers who are stealing from the taxpayers of Missouri by committing Medicaid fraud,” Koster said in the release. “Our criminal prosecutions and our large monetary recoveries serve as a warning to providers who would consider submitting false bills to Medicaid - we are watching, and you will not get away with it.”

Among cases last year was a guilty plea by a Lebanon-area psychologist and a St. Louis drug company settlement.

In August, psychologist Rhett McCarty pleaded guilty to defraud Medicare and Medicaid to the tune of roughly $1 million. In his guilty plea, McCarty admitted he submitted claims for services he never provided.

The attorney general's office announced in February the state's Medicaid program would receive $289,000 through a settlement with St. Louis-based KV Pharmaceutical Co., parent company of the now-defunct Ethex Corp. The settlement resolved allegations that Ethex caused false claims to be submitted for two of its drugs.