A St. Louis nurse was sentenced Feb. 10 for her role in a healthcare billing scheme, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Donna A. Waldo, RN, was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay $48,669 for her role in the scheme, which involved billing Medicaid and Medicare for physician visits when the physician was out of the country. She was sentenced roughly three months after pleading guilty to one count of making a false claim to Medicaid or Medicare.
In her plea agreement, Ms. Waldo admitted that she saw a patient at St. Louis Internal Medicine in 2014 and falsely billed Medicaid as if a physician was supervising her during the visit. However, the physician, Brij R. Vaid, MD, was out of the country on the day of the visit and did not provide any direct personal supervision.
Dr. Vaid also pleaded guilty in October to one count of making a false claim to Medicaid or Medicare, according to the Department of Justice. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 27.