Missouri – A home healthcare business built around helping patients remain in familiar surroundings instead became the center of a six-figure fraud case. On Tuesday, its owner was ordered to spend 18 months in federal prison.
The amount involved was $210,000, money intended to support veterans and Missouri Medicaid patients who needed care at home rather than in hospitals or nursing facilities.
According to the Department of Justice, U.S. District Judge Maria A. Lanahan sentenced Natavia Boyd-Wells, 42, and ordered her to repay the full amount. Boyd-Wells owned Touch of the Heart Home Health Care LLC, a company that submitted reimbursement claims to both the Missouri Medicaid Program and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Community Care Network.
Federal prosecutors said the fraud unfolded through hundreds of false claims. Some sought payment for home healthcare services allegedly provided to veterans on dates when those patients were actually hospitalized. Because the veterans were in medical facilities at the time, they could not have received the claimed care at home.
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Other claims were submitted even though Boyd-Wells knew the services had not been provided. Prosecutors also said she lacked documentation showing that the billed work had taken place.
The case took another turn during a Missouri Medicaid audit in February 2022. State officials asked Boyd-Wells to produce records supporting services that her company claimed it had provided to a Medicaid patient.
Those records did not exist.
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Instead of acknowledging the missing documentation, Boyd-Wells caused fraudulent records to be submitted to Missouri Medicaid in response to the audit request, according to federal authorities. The false paperwork was meant to support claims that had already been filed for reimbursement.
Boyd-Wells pleaded guilty in February to one count of wire fraud, bringing the criminal case closer to Tuesday’s sentencing.
Home healthcare programs funded through Missouri Medicaid and the VA Community Care Network are designed to give eligible patients another option for treatment and assistance. By paying providers for services delivered in a patient’s home, the programs can help people avoid extended stays in hospitals or nursing homes.
In this case, however, investigators found that public funds were paid based on claims for care that either could not have occurred or was not supported by legitimate records.
The investigation was handled by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman prosecuted the case.
The prison sentence now closes the main criminal proceeding, but the financial consequences will continue. Under Judge Lanahan’s order, Boyd-Wells must repay the $210,000 obtained through the fraudulent billing scheme.
