Two people have pleaded guilty to receiving money for Medicaid-related patient referrals to hospitals in Atlanta and on Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Tracey Cota, 50, of Dunwoody, and Gary Lang, 58, of Atlanta, both admitted to conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute by taking and receiving payment in exchange for Medicaid patient referrals to hospitals. Both will be sentenced at a later date, according to a news release from the office of U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
“These illegal referral arrangements resulted in women being steered to deliver their babies at hospitals on the basis of Clinica’s and the hospitals’ financial self-interest, regardless of whether it was in the women’s best interest,” Yates said in the release.
Cota was the chief operating officer and co-owner of Hispanic Medical Management Inc., also known as Clinica de la Mama. The clinic operated several metro Atlanta and Hilton Head locations and specialized in prenatal care services for primarily undocumented Hispanic women, according to the release.
Lang was the Chief Executive Officer of an Atlanta area hospital enrolled as a provider in the Georgia Medicaid program, for which many of the women were ineligible, according to the release. But between July 2000 and July 2012, Cota conspired with hospital executives, including Lang, and received payment to compensate Clinica for referrals to the hospitals.
According to the release, hospitals involved in the scheme contracted with, and paid, Clinica to provide certain services, including translation services and Medicaid eligibility determination services. The referrals ultimately triggered Medicaid reimbursements of more than $100 million to the hospitals.
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