The former owner, office manager, and business manager of a St. Louis County, Missouri-based home healthcare company pleaded guilty to a federal charge Monday and admitted involvement in a healthcare fraud conspiracy that fraudulently billed the Missouri Medicaid program more than $552,000.
Doriann Morgan, 58, of St. Louis County, Thalisa Walton, 46, of Hazelwood, and Barbara Jackson, 59, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in three separate hearings in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
They each admitted that from roughly January 2018 to August 2021, they conspired to submit fraudulent reimbursement claims to Missouri’s Medicaid program for personal care services that were never provided. They admitted receiving $552,659.
Jackson was business manager of A Mother’s Touch In-Home Care LLC, responsible for recruiting clients and assigning employees to provide care. Morgan owned the company and submitted Medicaid claims. Walton was the office manager.
Morgan, Walton, and Jackson are no longer affiliated in any way with A Mother’s Touch In-Home Care LLC, which continues to do business under new ownership.
The three submitted fraudulent claims for personal care services purportedly provided by Jackson for a woman who did not live in Missouri and received no services, their plea agreements say. They also submitted claims for providing services for clients at times when their own social media posts showed them doing something else.
In a separate civil settlement, Morgan, Walton, and Jackson agreed to pay $910,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing Missouri Medicaid using false timesheets and payroll records for in-home services that were never provided. The civil settlement resolves claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Michele Bickley. Under those provisions, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. Ms. Bickley will receive $90,090 of the proceeds from the settlement.
“HHS-OIG is committed to protecting our communities and taxpayer funds from schemes targeting Missouri’s Medicaid program, which provides necessary services to vulnerable populations,” said Special Agent in Charge Linda Hanley of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Working proudly with the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and our other law enforcement partners, our agency will continue to investigate those who threaten the integrity of federal and state health care programs and the people served by them.”
The three are scheduled to be sentenced on August 26. The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both prison and a fine.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Suzanne Moore and Derek Wiseman are prosecuting the case.
