OLATHE – (January 25, 2023) – A Johnson County woman was sentenced to 24 months in jail and ordered to pay more than $31,000 in restitution to the Kansas Medicaid program for Medicaid fraud, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said today.
Carol Elaine Hensley, 63, of Overland Park, pled guilty in Johnson County District Court to one count of making a false claim, statement or representation to the Medicaid program and one count of unlawful acts concerning computers. Johnson County District Court Judge Timothy P. McCarthy sentenced Carol Hensley to 24 months in jail and ordered her to pay $31,174.49 in restitution. The jail sentence was suspended and she was ordered to serve 12 months of supervised probation.
An investigation found that Hensley had served as a personal care attendant for her two adult children who are Medicaid beneficiaries. From January 1, 2018, through February 28, 2022, Hensley submitted false claims for payment to the Medicaid program as if she was providing services to the adult children. Investigators found that Hensley was in fact working different jobs or her adult children were in day support services.
The case is part of “Operation Keeping Them Honest,” a cooperative effort between the attorney general’s office and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Office of Inspector General to investigate fraudulent billing to Medicaid for personal care services provided in Medicaid beneficiaries’ homes. This sentencing brings to a close the latest case in this joint effort to crack down on those who take advantage of these federal and state-administered healthcare programs. To date, nine cases have been filed with the courts and five have reached the sentencing phase.
Other investigations are ongoing. The cases are being jointly investigated by federal and state authorities and prosecuted by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division. Senior Assistant Attorney General Eve Kemple of Kobach’s office prosecuted the case. The case was investigated by a special agent with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Office of the Inspector General and Analysts Nicki Houk and Dalton May of Kobach’s office.
The following statement about the Kansas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is required by the federal government: The Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division in the Attorney General’s Office receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $2,307,236 for Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2023. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $769,075 for FFY 2023, is funded by the Office of the Kansas Attorney General from moneys recovered in litigation.