Portsmouth man sentenced to 2 years for making $188,000 in false Virginia Medicaid claims at nursing home

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A Portsmouth man has been sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding Virginia Medicaid and submitting more than $188.000 in false claims.

According to a Department of Justice news release, the false claims were made for a residential nursing home, Turning Points Residential Care.

Lopez Scott, 47, operated the nursing home that gave residential support services and skilled nursing services to recipients of Medicaid.

The DOJ said from October 2016 to October 2019, Scott submitted numerous false and fraudulent claims to Virginia Medicaid misrepresenting 5,847.75 hours of skilled nursing services for a Medicaid patient.

Those hours amounted to $188,297.39 in health care payments which Scott was not entitled to.

“For three years, the defendant used his position as a nursing home operator to fraudulently obtain over $188,000 from the Virginia Medicaid program,” said Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Health care fraud takes funding and critical services away from those who truly need it. We will continue to hold accountable those who exploit these essential health care programs at the expense of vulnerable members of our communities.”

Court documents say Scott created fraudulent entries in nursing notes in the Turning Points electronic office records to cover up the false hours claimed. He forged a signature of a nurse and asked them to falsely state to investigators that she had continued to work for that company despite her employment there already having ended.

“When Lopez Scott launched his fraud scheme, he threatened the integrity of the Medicaid program and illegally pocketed taxpayer funds meant to pay for the legitimate care of needy patients,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General. “Along with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to hold such fraudsters accountable for their unprincipled actions.”