(The Center Square) – Medicaid reimbursed a North Carolina business $1.7 million prosecutors say is fraudulent and has led to a guilty plea in federal court.
Gwendolyn Singleton, 55, owner and operator of Joelle’s Center of Hope in Greensboro, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. According to U.S. Attorney Dan Bishop, she executed the scheme through urine drug test claims between June 2021 and March 2023 using the name of a nurse practitioner and a doctor.
Neither provider said they did.
Medicaid provides free or low-cost health coverage to eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities. It is a joint federal and state program, with more than 3 million – 1 in 4 – enrolled from North Carolina’s 11.2 million population.
From fiscal years 2021 to 2025, state appropriations for Medicaid increased 57% from $3.93 billion to $6.17 billion. State Medicaid expenditures rose 97.2% from $18.14 billion to $35.77 billion. Federal Medicaid expenditures rose 102.8% from $12.33 billion to $25.01 billion.
Singleton is expected to appear before Justice Thomas Schroeder on Oct. 22 in Winston-Salem. She’ll face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, supervised release of up to three years, and financial penalties.
Investigations were done in collaboration by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, the Medicaid Investigations Division of the state attorney general’s office, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
“MID’s data mining efforts are helping us find and shut down healthcare fraud in North Carolina,” said first-term Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “I’m grateful for U.S. Attorney Bishop’s partnership in this case to protect taxpayer dollars.”
