Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced the arrest of a Pulaski County woman and a Garland County woman, for Medicaid fraud.
Jene Wyatt, 38, of Little Rock, and Lois Fields, 41, of Malvern, were arrested and released from the Pulaski County Detention Facility. Wyatt is charged with one count of Class C felony Medicaid fraudny. She is accused of billing for services not rendered, totaling $1,438.56 in November and December of 2016. Fields is charged with Class B felony Medicaid fraud. She is accused of billing $5,833.56 for services not rendered as an adult companion between October 2015 and February of 2016.
Both cases were referred to the Attorney General’s office by the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.
These arrests were part of the largest ever health care fraud enforcement action by the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, involving 412 charged defendants across 41 federal districts, and including 115 doctors, nurses, and other licensed medical professionals for their alleged participation in health care fraud schemes involving approximately $1.3 billion in false billings. Arkansas’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit was one of 30 units participating in this action.
The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of a joint initiative between the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud, and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operates in nine locations nationwide. Since its inception in 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force has charged more than 3,500 defendants who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for over $12.5 billion.
Medicaid fraud occurs when providers use the Medicaid program to obtain money to which they are not entitled. To report Medicaid fraud or abuse or neglect in residential care facilities, contact the Attorney General’s Medicaid fraud hotline at (866) 810-0016 or oag@arkansasag.gov.