Ohio Woman Sentenced, Fined for Posing as HHS Official

COLUMBUS, Ohio–A federal court has ordered an Ohio-based
medical supplier to serve a 30-month prison term and pay more than
$300,000 in restitution for impersonating a Department of Health
and Human Services official and defrauding government health
programs.

Carla E. Davison, 45, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of Ohio in 2004 for pretending to be an
employee of the HHS Office of Inspector General.

Davison, who from June 2001 to March 2005 owned Phoenix
Automated Medical Services, a medical equipment and supply company
in Twinsburg, Ohio, admitted that she pretended to be a compliance
officer at seminars she presented for health care providers between
2000 and 2004.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern
District of Ohio, Davison collected at least $17,150 from seminar
attendees, who received papers certifying them as a “Practice
Compliance Officer,” though no such government-sanctioned or
authorized designation or qualification exists.

While waiting for sentencing on the impersonation plea, Davison
was charged last year with billing Medicaid and Medicare for
$290,936 in medical supplies that had not been provided.

“One item she fraudulently billed to the state and federal
programs was identified as Hydrogel, an $849 wound-care treatment,”
said Gregory Lockhart, U.S. Attorney for the district. “Yet she
gave patients much less expensive items, such as boxes of sterile
wipes costing approximately $4.50 each. The economic loss to both
the government and the citizens is substantial when individuals
abuse our health care programs.”