An Emporia woman will spend more than a year in prison on a conviction of Medicaid fraud, according to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt.
Jennifer Flores, 40, pleaded guilty in January in Lyon County District Court to two felony counts of making a false claim to the Kansas Medicaid Program. On Wednesday, Judge W. Lee Fowler sentenced Flores to 14 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections. He also ordered Flores to repay $12,869.83 to the Medicaid Program and reimburse the attorney general’s office for the costs of the investigation. The attorney general’s office also says convictions such as this one may also result in a period during which the defendant is prohibited from being paid wages through a government health care program.
An investigation by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division revealed that Flores billed Medicaid for services provided by a personal care attendant for a Medicaid beneficiary, who was disabled and eligible for home-based services, while the beneficiary was hospitalized or while the defendant was incarcerated.
All told there were approximately 935 hours that the defendant claimed she was providing these services between January 2013 and May 2016.
