Justice Department charges 15 in Minnesota with health care fraud

· UPI

May 21 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice on Thursday announced it brought charges against 15 people in Minnesota for participating in health care fraud schemes worth more than $90 million.

The department identified fraud schemes connected to Medicaid funds for autism treatment, housing programs for adults with disabilities, housing stabilization, and child care, officials from the Justice Department and Department of Health and Human Services said in a press release.

The charges include what are allegedly the two largest Medicaid frauds ever charged, as well as several first-of-their-kind charges based on the programs it said have been ripped off.

The Justice Department also said it plans to expand its Health Care Fraud Section in its Fraud Division as it attempts to "supercharge" efforts against health care industry fraud, which will include hiring 15 more prosecutors.

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"We are holding scammers accountable who ripped off the American taxpayer and harmed those deserving legitimate assistance from these programs," Todd Blanche, acting attorney general, said in the release.

"These alleged con artists stole taxpayer dollars while providing substandard care for children and abandoning at least one Medicaid recipient as they passed away," he said.

The investigations and charges have been driven by data that Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said shows a "significant increase" in Medicaid fraud across the United States.

The 15 people charged with participating in fraud allegedly submitted false claims for services that were not rendered -- including one who submitted a claim for providing services to a person who was found deceased the next day.

Individually, the schemes allegedly netted from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars, the Justice Department said.

Blanche called the charges filed on Thursday "just the tip of the iceberg."