A Raleigh doctor is facing federal charges of billing Medicare more than $46 million for a procedure to help people with their sinuses.

Anita Louise Jackson, 58, was the top-paid provider of balloon sinuplasty services in the United States, according to federal officials.

The services treated chronic sinus pain by inserting a balloon inside a blocked sinus pathway to restore drainage. Jackson is accused of charging Medicaid for more than 1,200 incidences of the service for more than 700 patients. Most of her services were offered to patients in eastern North Carolina.

“Jackson profited substantially from these billings to the Medicare program,” according to a statement from the Eastern District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney’s Office.

A LinkedIn profile for Jackson lists her as the president and CEO of Greater Carolina Ear, Nose & Throat PA, the same company also listed in the federal indictment. Her profile also indicates that she is the medical and laboratory director for the Durham County Department of Public Health.

“Dr. Jackson is a member of the Durham County Department of Public Health Leadership team. She plays an integral role in leading the COVID response of the largest most diverse county in the state of North Carolina,” a job description on Jackson’s LinkedIn reads.

The LinkedIn profile also said she has degrees from Sanford, Princeton and Harvard universities and that she is a research professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

She’s been charged with:

  • Adulteration of medical devices
  • 10 counts of paying illegal remunerations
  • 3 counts of making false statements relating to health care benefits
  • 2 counts of aggravated identity theft
  • 3 counts of mail fraud
  • Conspiracy

Jackson faces a maximum term of 20 years in prison for mail fraud, 10 years for paying illegal remunerations and five years for conspiracy and making false statements. In addition, federal officials said that aggravated identity theft carries a two-year mandatory prison sentence, consecutive to any other punishment. 

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Raleigh doctor indicted on charges of defrauding Medicaid of $46 million – WRAL News