Sarasota County Woman Sentenced for Health Care Fraud
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 05, 2012 |
TAMPA, FL—U.S. Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announces that Senior U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew today sentenced Mira Matchin (58, Sarasota) to 18 months in federal prison for health care fraud. As part of her sentence, the court also entered a money judgment in the amount of $723,000, the proceeds of the scheme orchestrated by Matchin. Matchin pleaded guilty on October 28, 2011.
According to court documents, from April 2004 through March 2007, Matchin billed the Medicare program for services purportedly rendered to program beneficiaries at Panseonat Miracle, LLC (“PANSEONAT”). During the period at issue, PANSEONAT was a medical services business located in Sarasota County, that also operated a spa near some warm mineral springs. In billing the Medicare program, Matchin used a Medicare Provider Billing Number of a physician who never treated the Medicare program beneficiaries, who did not give Matchin permission to use his name and number for billing purposes, and who was licensed to practice medicine only in New York.
According to court documents, the claims generated at PANSEONAT in Florida were submitted to a Medicaid Part B carrier for Northern Medical Center, P.C. (“NMC”), a New Jersey corporation located in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Matchin controlled both PANSEONAT and NMC. The total loss amount from the scheme was approximately $723,000.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jay G. Trezevant.
This case was brought as part of Tampa’s Medicare Fraud Strike Force, a joint effort of the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services. The Strike Force was formed to address fraudulent billing and other crimes that adversely affect the delivery of health care through the Medicare system. Strike Force investigative agencies include, among others, the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Investigations, and the Florida Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.