In June 2003 Hattie and Barry Bull, owners of “H and B Transportation,” pled guilty to overcharging Delaware’s medical assistance program and overstating mileage on patient trips. They were ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution and $12,930 in fees to the Attorney General. They were sentenced to a five year prison term which was suspended for probation.

Transportation is a common target for Medicaid fraud. Transportation providers do not need a medical license or higher education, so it is an easy area for criminals to infiltrate.

Sometimes it is easy to find transportation fraud, especially when providers aren’t doing much to try to hide their crime. A simple check of administrative claims may turn up thousands of dollars of transportation services that were provided to patients who did not receive any medical services on the day of transport.

In cases where the mileage is inflated, Medicaid programs can use geographic information systems (GIS) to check actual mileage of the trip.

If you cover transportation services and you’re not checking for this type of fraud, I guarantee that you are losing lots of money.

“Sussex County Medical Transportation Provider Guilty of Health Care Fraud.” 5 Jun. 2003. Georgetown: Delaware Attorney General. Available: Transportation Press Release.