Press Release

Homer Based Personal Care Attendant Convicted for Fraudulently Billing Medicaid

June 28, 2013

On June 25, 2013, 31year old Heather Platter of Homer, was sentenced by the Homer District Court for committing Medical Assistance Fraud.

The case against Platter arose when Jackie Buckley, Executive Director for ResCare in Anchorage, reported that Platter appeared to be fraudulently billing Medicaid for providing personal care attendant services to a Homer Medicaid recipient. The Medicaid recipient in this case stated that she told Platter to only bill Medicaid for the hours she actually worked and became concerned about possible fraud when Platter started coming to work late and not totaling the weekly hours on her timesheets. The recipient later reviewed the timesheets submitted to ResCare and realized that Platter was billing Medicaid for services she was not actually providing.

The State's investigation confirmed that Platter was in fact billing Medicaid for services not provided. Platter initially denied any wrongdoing, but later admitted to investigators from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit that she billed Medicaid for hours not actually worked. Platter stated that she billed Medicaid for services not provided as she was financially stressed. In total, Platter billed Medicaid for $3,381.40 for services she did not provide.

Based on the aforementioned evidence, Platter was convicted of one count of Medical Assistance Fraud for making a false entry in a medical assistance record. Platter was ordered to pay a $1,500.00 fine, serve 45 days of suspended jail time, and pay restitution to the State of Alaska in the amount of $3,381.40, and serve three years of probation. Platter is ineligible to work for or bill Medicaid for providing personal care assistance services in the future as a result of this conviction.

The Alaska MFCU is part of the Attorney General's Office. The MFCU is responsible for investigating and prosecuting Medicaid fraud and abuse, neglect or financial exploitations of patients in any facility that accepts Medicaid funds. The indictment and information adding misdemeanor counts for each of these cases can be found on the MFCU website.

CONTACT: Assistant Attorney General Andrew Peterson at 907-269-6292. For more information about the Platter case or other cases handled by the Alaska MFCU, go to the MFCU website.

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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.