Suzanne C. May, Conspiracy to Alter or Falsify Records, Louisiana 2019

Mandeville Nurse Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy Charge

A 61-year-old nurse from Mandeville, Louisiana, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to alter or falsify records in connection with a Medicare audit. Suzanne C. May, a registered nurse, admitted to altering patient records to hide the fact that her employer, a hospice facility in New Orleans, lacked required medical records to justify bills submitted to Medicare.

According to court documents, in 2015, Medicare audited the facility and concluded that it did not have the proper patient documentation to justify its level of billing for hospice services. As a result, Medicare reversed all the claims for hospice services under review, totaling $383,107.26. Despite the education letter sent by Medicare, May and other employees of the facility altered and falsified patient records between August 2017 and October 2017 to hide the deficiency.

May admitted to adding the initials of deceased beneficiaries to certain paperwork and creating a false note on one patient record. She caused the falsified patient records to be submitted to Medicare in response to the audit. Despite the falsifications, Medicare determined that the patient records were still largely deficient.

May faces a possible maximum sentence of 5 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years supervised release, in addition to a $100 special assessment. U.S. Attorney Peter G. Strasser praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Louisiana Attorney General's Office's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for their work investigating the case.

The case is being prosecuted by Jared Hasten of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section and Assistant United States Attorney Kathryn McHugh. May's guilty plea was entered on December 3, 2019.

The investigation and prosecution of this case highlight the importance of ensuring the integrity of Medicare's programs and the need for healthcare providers to maintain accurate and truthful records.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edla/pr/mandeville-nurse-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-alter-or-falsify-records-federal