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Surgeon accused of Medicaid fraud
By CANDACE RONDEAUX ST. PETERSBURG -- An oral surgeon was arrested Friday on charges of defrauding Medicaid of nearly $164,000. Dr. Allena H. Burge, of St. Petersburg, is accused of making 3,331 fraudulent Medicaid claims in the past 4-1/2 years. She was booked into the Pinellas County Jail after being served with a warrant at her workplace, the Florida Centre for Facial Surgery at 5253 Central Ave. Investigators say Burge 44, consistently charged for services she did not perform, overcharged for dental procedures and filed numerous claims for medications her patients never received. Burge filed more than 57,000 Medicaid claims from January 1998 to March 2002, taking in about $6.6-million, according to Lt. Patrick Nieman, a Medicaid fraud unit investigator. Nieman said the sheer volume of bills could push up Burge's total take well past the $163,721 she's already accused of. "We believe there's more," he said. Burge could face as many as five years in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted of the felony charges. Attorneys for Burge could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon. Burge served in the Air Force for four years. She graduated from Harvard University School of Dental Medicine and later became an instructor at the University of Colorado before relocating to Florida about nine years ago. -- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
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