The owner of a home healthcare company was sentenced on June 3 to 18 months in prison for defrauding the Missouri Medicaid Program and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs out of $210,000.
U.S. District Judge Maria A. Lanahan ordered Natavia Boyd-Wells, 42, to repay the funds after she pleaded guilty in February to one count of wire fraud. Boyd-Wells owned Touch of the Heart Home Health Care LLC and submitted hundreds of fraudulent reimbursement claims to both the Missouri Medicaid Program and the Department of Veterans Affairs Community Care Network.
According to court documents, Missouri Medicaid and the VA pay for home healthcare services so patients can remain at home instead of being admitted to hospitals or nursing homes. Boyd-Wells submitted claims for services on dates when veterans were hospitalized and could not have received care at home. She also filed claims knowing that services were not provided and lacked documentation supporting those claims.
In February 2022, during an audit by Missouri Medicaid officials who requested documentation for services allegedly provided to a patient, no records existed. Prosecutors said Boyd-Wells then caused fraudulent documentation to be submitted in response.
The case was investigated by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri investigates and prosecutes federal crimes, enforces civil rights laws, serves 49 counties across eastern Missouri using courthouses in St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, advances community well-being through crime prevention efforts with local entities, operates under the United States Department of Justice, and works toward improving quality of life in its jurisdiction, according to the official website.