A Pennsylvania nursing home owner has been sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for fraudulently taking New York Medicaid funds for services never rendered or already covered by Pennsylviania’s Medicaid program. David Arnold also must pay $1 million in restitution, and his facility, the 145-bed Heritage Nursing Home in Athens, PA, was slapped with a $10,000 fine.
New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Heritage Nursing Home did not provide dental, occupational therapy, and speech therapy services for patients, even though it billed Medicaid for them. Medicaid paid for routine dental visits for years, for example, even though hundreds of patients never saw a dentist during their stays.
Arnold was found guilty of one count of grand larceny in the first degree and of three counts of grand larceny in the second degree in January. He was sentenced March 25 in Albany County Court.
