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Company's owner ischarged with bilking Medicaid

By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published May 21, 2006

Laura Tietz Perreault, 54, the owner of Laura's Care and Services, overbilled Medicaid about $22,062 from June to October 2004, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

The billing was for care of a terminally ill patient in Seffner, the agency said. An investigation by the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Unit found Perreault charged for 24-hour-a-day care, even though the patient got only one or two hours of care per day.

Perreault was charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud, a third-degree felony. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.

Companion care involves nonmedical assistance, such as preparing meals and picking up prescriptions.

The Attorney General's Office did not provide the name of the patient, but said his sisters alerted officials to the overbilling. The sisters documented the care for their brother, Medicaid Fraud Unit investigator Neil K. Kailimai wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Kailimai interviewed one caregiver, Tonya Michelle Gamber, who said she did not provide all of the services for which Perreault billed Medicaid.

Perreault denied the allegations, although she said she paid the patient's sister for providing care when her company couldn't, Kailimai wrote. The sister was given one check for $500 and another for $45, even though she was not an employee of Laura's Care and Services and had not received Medicaid certification, Kailimai wrote.

[Last modified May 21, 2006, 08:30:35]