Iowa’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit spent $1.1 million in 2016, but recovered $10.6 million for the taxpayers.
Clark Kauffman/The Register
Five-year suspension follows criminal conviction
The former managing partner at a Polk County home-health agency has been barred from billing Medicaid after being criminally convicted of attempting to defraud taxpayers.
Bradley Rogers, 49, of Altoona, headed the Pleasant Hill franchise for the Comfort Keepers home-health agency until late last year and has been suspended from the Medicaid program for five years.
According to state records, the Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit discovered in May 2015 that Rogers was submitting falsified time cards to Medicaid in an attempt to artificially inflate Comfort Keepers’ expenses.
Those expenses were reported to the state so that it could calculate the money owed the company for home-health services the company claimed to be providing Medicaid beneficiaries in central Iowa.
The falsified time cards would have inflated the company’s billings to Medicaid by $1,710 per month, or $145,000 per year, according to the state.
Polk County prosecutors charged Rogers with the misdemeanor offense of tampering with records.
In February, Rogers was sentenced to two years of probation and 50 hours of community service. He also received a deferred judgment that will result in his conviction being expunged from public court records if he successfully completes his probation.
Corporation records indicate the Pleasant Hill franchise of Comfort Keepers is owned by a limited liability corporation called QHealth, which was managed by Rogers until last December.
Two days before Rogers entered his guilty plea in the criminal case, QHealth filed records with the secretary of state indicating Rogers was being replaced as managing partner by Darren and Clint Rogers.
Other Iowans recently suspended from the Medicaid program include:
- Madison O’Brien of Cedar Rapids, who had worked for ARC of East Central in Cedar Rapids, was suspended from the Medicaid program for 18 months after being accused of causing ARC to bill Medicaid for services she never provided. After pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent practices, she was fined $315 and order to reimburse Medicaid for $495 in billings. She received a deferred judgment that will result in the conviction being expunged from public court records after one year of probation.
- Darren Washington of Avoca, who had worked for Healthy Homes Family Services, which has offices in Grinnell, Red Oak and Avoca, was suspended from the Medicaid program for 18 months. He was accused of causing Healthy Homes to bill Medicaid for almost $15,000 worth of services he never provided. He initially was charged with first-degree theft, but prosecutors agreed to a deal in which he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor fraudulent practices that resulted in a year’s probation, a $625 fine and a deferred judgment. As part of the deal, Washington must repay Medicaid $14,976.
- Tonya Gephart of Mason City, who was permanently barred from the Medicaid program for allegedly causing her employer, Veridian, to bill $1,360 to Medicaid for services she never provided. In March, she was convicted of felony fraudulent practices, sentenced to three years of probation and granted a deferred judgment.