Chesterfield Mental Health Service Provider Convicted of Health Care Fraud

June 24, 2010 - RICHMOND, VA—Denise C. McCreary, 43, of Chesterfield, Va., was convicted today by a federal jury for submitting false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement to the Virginia Medicaid program. Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, Attorney General of Virginia; and Michael F.A. Morehart, Special Agent- in-Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after the verdict was returned.

After a two-day trial in Richmond, Virginia, a jury convicted McCreary of nine counts of health care fraud. Trial evidence established that McCreary owned and operated Camp Hope Youth Services, a Medicaid contracted provider of Intensive In-home Therapy Services for children and adolescents. Intensive In-home Therapy Services, one of the many mental health services offered by Medicaid in Virginia, are designed to assist youth and adolescents who are at risk of being removed from their homes, or are being returned to their homes after removal, because of significant mental health, behavioral, or emotional issues. Medicaid requires that Intensive In-home Therapy providers employ qualified metal health workers to provide a medically necessary service to at-risk children and adolescents.

McCreary billed Medicaid for services that were not reimbursable because the services did not address a child’s specific mental health issues, were not provided by qualified mental health workers, and were not provided to children who were in actual need of the offered services. McCreary also billed Medicaid for services that were never provided. The indictment alleges that Medicaid paid McCreary at least $601,580 that she was not entitled to receive.

At sentencing, scheduled before United States District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson for September 17, 2010, McCreary faces a maximum sentence of 10 years’ incarceration and a $250,000.00 fine on each health care fraud count.

“We view health care fraud as a very serious crime and an office priority,” said United States Attorney Neil H. MacBride. “We will aggressively investigate and prosecute health care providers who attempt to take advantage of the system.”

Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, Attorney General of Virginia, added, “My office will not tolerate health care providers who commit fraud against the Medicaid program—the very program that the taxpayers of the commonwealth fund for some of our most vulnerable citizens. I want to personally thank the men and women of my Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the FBI, and Virginia’s Department of Medical Assistance Services for their outstanding collaboration to bring Denise McCreary to justice.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Virginia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael C. Moore and Special Assistant United States Attorney Joseph E.H. Atkinson.