Former hospice COO charged with fraud, allegedly put non-terminally ill patients in hospice
Mary Ann Stewart faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on the healthcare fraud and five years in prison on making false declarations.
Mary Ann Stewart faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on the healthcare fraud and five years in prison on making false declarations before a grand jury.
A federal grand jury has indicted former Horizons Hospice LLC Chief Operations Officer Mary Ann Stewart on charges of healthcare fraud and making false declarations before a grand jury, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Pennsylvania.
The five indictments allege Stewart, 47, of Bossier City, Louisiana, orchestrated a scheme in which patients who weren’t terminally ill were sent to the Louisiana center and then kept there by recertifying them for continued hospice care, according to a released statement from U. S. Attorney David J. Hickton.
[Also: Texas man faked Cerner ties in bizarre fraud]
Stewart is also charged with testifying untruthfully to a series of four questions before a federal grand jury, according to the indictments announced Feb. 26 by the FBI.
In November, the former medical director at Horizons Hospice in Monroeville, Oliver Herndon, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to similar charges, according to a published report.
Stewart faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison on the healthcare fraud and five years in prison for making false declarations before a grand jury, plus a fine of $250,000 on each count, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The FBI, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Section of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General conducted the investigation leading to the indictments.
