Ambulance Biller and EMT Supervisor Convicted of Fraud

Employees Face Prison Because They Went Along with Employer’s Medicare Fraud

The former billing manager and EMT supervisor of an ambulance company in Los Angeles have been found guilty of health care fraud.  The defendants were charged with helping the owners of the ambulance company bill Medicare to transport dialysis patients in ambulances, when the patients could have been transported by less expensive means.

This case is a warning for any employee who knows that their employer is engaged in Medicare fraud.  When the government finds evidence of fraud, it prosecutes everyone who was involved, not just the owners of the company who benefitted from the scheme.  You could go to prison for going along with your employer’s fraud.

In the recent ambulance fraud case, the government charged two employees – the billing manager and EMT supervisor – with helping the owners bill Medicare for ambulance transportation services for individuals who did not need such services.  Their “guilty conduct” included transmitting the owners’ instructions to the EMTs who created trip reports or run sheets.

For example, the government introduced evidence that EMTs were instructed to conceal the true medical conditions of patients they were transporting by creating false trip reports to justify the transportation services.

By transmitting these instructions from the owners of the ambulance company to the EMTs, the billing manager and the EMT supervisor became part of the conspiracy to defraud Medicare.  Now they are facing lengthy prison sentences because they went along with their employer’s fraud.

Do not go to prison for your employer’s Medicare fraud.  If you know that your employer is submitting false claims to Medicare, then you should consult with an experienced whistleblower lawyer immediately to protect yourself.  You may be entitled to a substantial reward and legal protections as a whistleblower.  You may also be able to avoid criminal prosecution, even if you had some involvement in the fraud.

Do not wait until the FBI comes knocking at your door.  Call John Howley, Esq. at (212) 601-2728 to schedule a free and confidential consultation with an experienced whistleblower lawyer.