FLORIDA —A Florida woman is accused of Medicaid fraud after she allegedly fraudulently billed Medicaid for 77 claims.
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Melissa Wilson Clea, a disabled care provider, is accused of failing to render services and falsifying documentation logs for two disabled Medicaid recipients, said Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Clea fraudulently billed Medicaid for 77 claims totaling more than $11,000, said the MFCU.
“Not only did this defendant fraudulently bill the Medicaid program and steal from Florida taxpayers for more than three years, she failed to provide health support services to disabled recipients and only contacted them once a year to acquire an annual report to ensure her scheme continued,” claimed Moody.
According to the investigation, Clea was a waiver support coordinator for Hands That Care, Inc. For more than three years, Clea billed for and received reimbursements for services purportedly rendered to two disabled Medicaid recipients in Clay and Duval counties.
The program denied seven of Clea’s 77 claims, and Clea received more than $10,400 deposited into a personal bank account, said the MFCU.
During the investigation, authorities said they contacted the caregivers of the disabled recipients, who stated Clea did not contact them except once a year to sign a yearly support plan. Investigators also reviewed Clea’s files and allegedly found expired eligibility worksheets, required provider documentation missing, and minimal case notes lacking specifics.
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Clea faces one count of scheme to defraud, a third-degree felony. Attorney General Moody’s MFCU will prosecute the case through an agreement with the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
