A former Connecticut advanced practice registered nurse has been arrested on charges of submitting more than $1.35 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims for medication management services never rendered, the Justice Department said in a May 22 news release.
Marisol Rodriguez, who now resides in Lehigh Acres, Fla., is accused of billing Connecticut Medicaid for services purportedly provided to patients months or years after they stopped seeing her, while she was working full-time elsewhere, while collecting unemployment benefits and for patients who were hospitalized, incarcerated or deceased. An analysis by the Connecticut Department of Social Services found that Ms. Rodriguez ranked first in Medicaid billings among a peer group of 116 APRNs, submitting approximately 5,000 more claims and receiving approximately $500,000 more than the second-highest billing APRN during the same period.
Ms. Rodriguez faces charges of healthcare fraud and making false statements relating to healthcare matters, carrying maximum sentences of 10 and five years in prison respectively. All charges are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
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