Lincoln--Attorney General Doug Peterson announced today that an Omaha woman was ordered to repay more than $7,000 and serve 48 months of probation after she pled no contest to Medicaid provider fraud yesterday in Douglas County District Court.

Sheila Smith had worked as an in-home personal care aid for an Omaha-area Medicaid recipient.  She submitted billings and was paid $7,200 by Nebraska Medicaid for services she never rendered.  The state’s investigation uncovered that Smith submitted fraudulent billings that showed she was providing in-home care for a Medicaid recipient when in fact the recipient was in the hospital. 

Douglas County District Judge Shelly Stratman ordered  Smith to pay $7,200 in restitution to Nebraska Medicaid and serve 48 months of supervised probation.  The matter was investigated and prosecuted by the Nebraska Medicaid Fraud and Patient Abuse Unit, which is part of Peterson’s Office.  The program integrity unit of the DHHS Division Medicaid and Long Term Care assisted with the investigation.  

The Nebraska Medicaid Fraud and Patient Abuse Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $ 1,077,000 for federal fiscal year (FFY) 2021. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $359,000 for FFY 2021, is funded by the State of Nebraska.