Anthony G. Brown, the attorney general of Maryland, said that the Circuit Court for Baltimore County has fined $425,940.54 to the state for false Medicaid claims made by Komfort & Kare LLC, its former owner and manager LaShera White, and its former alternate manager and administrator LaSharn Angelita Brown.
It was found that from January 2020 to February 2022, four Medicaid recipients were living with Komfort & Kare, an approved assisted living program, in places that were not licensed. Because of this, the program got almost $142,000 from Medicaid for services that did not follow state rules. The Maryland Department of Health sent the Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit (MFVVU) to look into the claims, which led to the discovery of the false information.
Maryland sued Komfort & Kare and its managers in January 2024 under the Maryland Fake Health Claims Act (FHCA), which says that Medicaid can’t be billed for fake claims. In this case, the court decided to give damages three times the amount of the false claims.
Attorney General Brown stressed how important it is to follow licensing rules to protect Medicaid recipients who are weak, especially during public health situations like COVID-19. He thanked the MFVVU team for their work, which included Assistant Attorney General Jawaria Gilani, Investigator Brittany Leister, and Investigative Auditor David Minzer.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services helps pay for some of the MFVVU’s work. Seventy-five percent of its six million dollar budget comes from government funds, and the other twenty-five percent comes from the State of Maryland.
