The former CEO of Tampa, Fla.-based WellCare, Todd Farha, has been sentenced to three years in prison for healthcare fraud, according to the Department of Justice.
Mr. Farha was convicted of two counts of healthcare fraud for his involvement in a scheme to defraud the Florida Medicaid program from 2003 to 2007. Mr. Farha and others submitted fraudulent expenditure information to Medicaid to reduce the amount of WellCare's payback obligations for its behavioral health services, according to the news release.
"Today's sentences are the culmination of a lengthy and comprehensive investigation and prosecution of egregious crimes of fraud and greed," said A. Lee Bentley III, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, in the news release. "We hope the sentences imposed will send a strong message that individuals engaging in healthcare fraud will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
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