Joy Beth Harden, Health Care Fraud, Mississippi 2022

A Columbia, Mississippi woman was sentenced to 57 months in prison for defrauding health care insurance providers.

Joy Beth Harden, 51, pled guilty on August 10, 2021, to executing a scheme to defraud Medicare and other health care benefit programs.

Specifically, Harden submitted fraudulent bills for durable medical equipment on behalf of her business, BZB LLC doing business as Duracare Home Medical Equipment in the Hattiesburg area.

As a result, Medicare and other benefits programs paid Harden for durable medical equipment that was never prescribed for patients and for medical equipment that was never delivered to the patients.

United States District Judge Taylor B. McNeel sentenced Harden on April 15, 2022, to serve a term of 57 months in federal prison, followed by a term of 3 years of supervised release.

Harden was also ordered to pay full restitution to all of the health care insurers she defrauded.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Darren J. LaMarca, Special Agent in Charge Jermicha Fomby of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Mississippi, Special Agent in Charge Tamala Miles of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) Atlanta Regional Office, Special Agent in Charge Cynthia A. Bruce of the DoD OIG, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Southeast Field Office, and Inspector General Martin J. Dickman of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Office of Inspector General (RRB OIG).

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdms/pr/columbia-woman-sentenced-57-months-prison-health-care-fraud