PERSONAL CARE PROVIDER TO VULNERABLE ADULT SENTENCED

Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr. announced today that a Montgomery County woman, who worked as a provider of personal care services to vulnerable adults, has been sentenced to an 18 month suspended sentence for billing the Medicaid Program for work that she did not perform.

Natailya Skrinskaya, 44, of the 3700 block of Bel Pre Road in Silver Spring, was sentenced by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Eric M. Johnson after having pled guilty to one count of felony Medicaid fraud. In addition to the 18 month suspended sentence, Judge Johnson placed her on 3 years supervised probation, and ordered that she make restitution to the state Medicaid program in the amount of $7,400. Skrinskaya admitted to submitting numerous false invoices and reports to the Medicaid program in connection with work purportedly performed for Medicaid’s Personal Care Program. That program helps qualified elderly, chronically ill, or disabled persons to remain in their homes and out of institutional care by providing an aide who assists the recipient with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, ambulation, eating, grooming, toileting, and some household services.

An investigation by the Office of the Attorney General revealed that Skrinskaya was not providing services during many of the hours she billed. Evidence developed by the State proved that on many dates when the defendant billed for providing personal care services, she was actually out of the country on vacation. Additionally, the State discovered that Skrinskaya billed Medicaid for work supposedly provided to a recipient in his apartment on dates when the person was actually living in a nursing home. Skrinskaya’s fraud caused a loss to Medicaid of $7,400.

As an additional consequence of her conviction, Skrinskaya will be excluded for at least five years from working for any health care provider that accepts Medicaid or Medicare funds.

This case was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The case was referred to the Office of the Attorney General by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

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