The state Attorney General’s Office has filed a Medicaid fraud lawsuit against a Little Rock elder care facility seeking penalties of more than $33 million.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Jeanette Hamilton filed the lawsuit last week against Step by Step Senior Care Inc. and its owners, Breon Harmon and Clarise Tatum. The filing claims the business collected Medicaid reimbursements for services provided through the Arkansas Personal Care program by overbilling, billing for overlapping services, billing for expired service plans, billing without authorization for a service plan and billing for services that could not be backed up by documentation.
Between Sept. 19, 2013, and June 26, 2014, according to Hamilton’s complaint, the business submitted 3,164 false, fictitious or fraudulent claims through the state Medicaid program. Hamilton asked the court for $33.6 million in civil penalties, including restitution.
Step by Step has not responded to the complaint in court and did not return phone or email messages by press time.
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