Kan. A.G. Files Charges in Medicaid Fraud Case

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division charged a Leawood couple recently with allegedly defrauding the Medicaid program out of over $16,000.

Dr. Timothy W. Smith, 55, and his wife Patricia A. Smith, 55, have each been charged in Shawnee County District Court with one felony count of conspiracy to make a false claim to the Medicaid program and one felony count of making a false claim to the Medicaid program.

The two are alleged to have made the claims totaling $16,297.16 between Feb. 17, 2002 and Sept. 2, 2003 after arranging for their teenage daughter Molly Smith to be enrolled as a “Personal Care Attendant” for a person accepted as a Medicaid patient. Dr. and Mrs. Smith allegedly conspired to submit and submitted false claims for services that their daughter could not have performed since she was attending college out of state during some of the times she was alleged to have been providing care services.

The count of making a false claim to the Medicaid program is a severity level seven nonperson felony punishable by a sentence of 11 to 34 months in prison plus a fine of up to $100,000. The count of conspiracy to make a false claim to the Medicaid program is a severity level nine nonperson felony punishable by a sentence of five to 17 months in prison plus a fine of up to $100,000.