June 3, 2021
Las
Vegas, NV –
Today, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced that Keyana Lanice
Jamill Carter, 29, of Las Vegas, was sentenced in a Medicaid fraud case
involving the failure to maintain adequate records to substantiate claims
submitted to Nevada Medicaid between July 2017 and June 2019.
Eighth
Judicial District Court Judge Jerry A. Wiese sentenced Carter to 364 days in
jail, suspended, and placed Carter on probation for one year. As a part of her
sentence, Carter was ordered to pay $500,000 in restitution. Individuals or
businesses convicted of Medicaid fraud may also be administratively excluded
from future Medicaid and Medicare participation.
“Carter
and similar individuals who commit Medicaid fraud will be aggressively pursued and
prosecuted by my office,” saidAG Ford. “Carter’s conviction
should serve as a warning that we will not tolerate health care providers who
abuse the system for personal gain.”
The
investigation of this case began after the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU)
received information that Carter, through her company Gentle Touch Behavioral
Health LLC, was billing Nevada Medicaid for services that were not provided.
The MFCU also received information that the company’s employees were asked to
create false records to document services that were never provided in an
attempt to substantiate claims that were submitted to Medicaid for payment. The
investigation revealed that Carter not only failed to maintain requisite
documentation to support services allegedly provided to Medicaid recipients,
but she also presented documentation that had signatures of healthcare providers
on them who denied having provided the services.
The
MFCU investigates and prosecutes financial fraud by those providing healthcare services
or goods to Medicaid patients. The MFCU also investigates and prosecutes instances
of elder abuse or neglect. The Nevada MFCU receives 75 percent of its funding
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award. The
remaining 25 percent is funded by the State of Nevada, MFCU. Anyone wishing to
report suspicions regarding any of these concerns may contact the MFCU at
702-486-3420 or 775-684-1100.
This
case was investigated by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and
prosecuted
by Senior Deputy Attorney General Behnaz Salimian Molina.
The
criminal Information for Keyana Lanice Jamill Carter is attached.
To
file a complaint with the Office of the Nevada Attorney General, click here.
CARTER, KEYANA LANICE
JAMILL
(Photograph courtesy of the Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police Department)
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