McAllen Area Durable Medical Equipment Company Owner Convicted of Defrauding Medicaid

McALLEN, Texas ‐ The owner of a durable medical equipment company has entered a guilty plea to defrauding Medicaid of more than $3 million, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Abe Martinez.

Anna Ramirez-Ambriz, 55, of McAllen, owned Compassionate Medical Supply located in Edinburg. As part of her plea today, she admitted she submitted false and fraudulent claims to Texas Medicaid in relation to incontinence supplies. Between 2007 and 2013, Ramirez-Ambriz billed Texas Medicaid for higher quantities and more costly incontinence products than were actually delivered to Texas Medicaid recipients.

As a result of her scheme, Medicaid suffered a loss of $3,143,149.41.

“Scamming the health care system is endemic and drives up the cost of health care, eliminating fraud would be a giant step toward achieving Congresses goal of affordability,” says John Benson, Verisys CEO.

“It would require massive changes to existing flawed systems and challenging the CMS contractors whose very expensive systems just add more cost by engaging in the pay and chase game. We need to have an honest discussion about prevention and it starts with a solid gatekeeping and monitoring strategy, something that Verisys delivers in the commercial sector today. The government needs to stop spending money on magic bullets and start applying common sense solutions.”

U.S. District Judge Randy Crane accepted the plea March 31, 2016 and has set sentencing for June 13, 2017. At that time, Ramirez-Ambriz faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine. She will remain in custody pending that hearing.

The Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services‐Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew Swartz and Michael Day are prosecuting the case.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdtx/pr/mcallen-area-durable-medical-equipment-company-owner-convicted-health-care-fraud
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