Business owner charged in Medicaid fraud

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A Carmel man and owner of an Indianapolis business is facing charges, accused of defrauding the Indiana Medicaid program of more than $1 million.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Hogsett’s office said Donald Hamilton, 49, controlling owner of Compression Etc., which sells custom-made compression stockings, used a separate company, Hamilton Medical Inc., to generate false invoices that inflated the cost of the compression stockings to triple what the companies actually paid. The invoices were then used to claim Medicaid reimbursement much higher than allowed by law.

“Overbilling and fraudulent billing of the Medicaid program by providers is a serious problem that the Indiana General Assembly is reviewing in a summer study committee,” said Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, whose Medicaid Fraud Control Unit worked cooperatively with Hogsett and other agencies in the investigation

Hogsett’s office said the federal indictment filed against Hamilton charges him with one count of health care fraud, five counts of false statements in a health care matter and two counts of money laundering.

Hamilton used some of the money received to pay a credit card bill of nearly $39,000 and write a check to a Tennessee Infiniti dealership for more than $17,000, Hogsett’s office said.

James Voyles, attorney for Hamilton, said a news release Friday that Hamilton denies all charges, and a not guilty plea had been entered on his behalf. Hamilton was released by the court on his own recognizance, Voyles said.

Hamilton faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for health care fraud and each money laundering charge, and five years for each false statement charge, as well as a $250,000 fine for each charge.