Brentwood, Tenn.-based optometric physician Helen Boerman has been sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for defrauding Medicare and other government health care programs out of nearly $7 million, according to a Sept. 14 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Ms. Boerman, 48, used her practice, Brentwood Eye Care, to submit false Medicare claims over about three and a half years, billing for services patients did not receive and for wound care products she split for single use rather than purchasing separately, according to court documents. She also submitted false claims to TennCare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program between March 2020 and October 2024. As part of her guilty plea, she admitted to submitting roughly $11 million in false claims and receiving about $6.9 million.
Chief U.S. District Judge William Campbell Jr. imposed the sentence Sept. 10, along with one year of supervised release, $6.9 million in restitution and a $100 special assessment.
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