A South Carolina man was sentenced to over seven years in federal prison for stealing the identities of providers and Medicaid recipients and billing South Carolina Medicaid over $1 million in false claims.
Jonathan Sumter, 51, owned PHC Supportive Services, a company that purported to provide behavioral healthcare to disabled, low-income individuals, according to a Jan. 6 news release from the Justice Department.
PHC Supportive Services did not have any clients or patients, the Justice Department said. Mr. Sumter used stolen National Provider Identifiers for nine healthcare workers to create fraudulent claims to Medicaid. According to the press release, Mr. Sumter stole the identities of 196 Medicaid beneficiaries with mental or emotional health disorders and created Medicaid claims without their knowledge.
In addition to his prison sentence, a federal judge ordered Mr. Sumter to pay $1.1 million in restitution to South Carolina Medicaid.