North Carolina woman pleads guilty to healthcare fraud

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina woman who controlled two healthcare companies pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges resulting from a scheme in which she collected $17 million after the companies billed Medicare for medical equipment it never delivered, a prosecutor said.

Tanya Parrish Grant, 51, of Raleigh carried out her scheme through her companies, which provided back, shoulder, knee, and wrist braces and other equipment to Medicare beneficiaries, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Michael Easley.

The news release said Grant’s companies billed Medicare for more than $50 million between 2014 and 2021. Medicare paid her more than $17 million, which she used to buy homes in Raleigh and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a Porsche and several Land Rovers, among other things, prosecutors said.

Grant paid companies in India and Pakistan to provide lists of Medicare patient identities. Her companies then billed Medicare for equipment she claimed to have provided to patients, the news release said.

An investigation also showed that Grant’s companies sent bills for 422 people who were dead, and when she was audited, Grant forged physician orders to support the billings.

Grant faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced later this year.