Galletta Brothers Defraud Medicaid for $5.5 Million

As announced by the FBI, an adult daycare was the center of a judicial proceeding in which the owner plead guilty for planning to defraud Medicaid out of around $5.5 million. The plans included sending in false claims for services that never occurred.

The daycare facilities, under the name Horizon National Healthcare, LLC operated two centers in Prospect Park and West Trenton, New Jersey. The owner's name is George Galletta. Mr. Galletts's brother also worked for the company; he was the Vice President of Horizon. Both men plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and will be sentenced on February 8^th. They could get up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

The daycare facilities in question provides preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitative services daily to adults that are functionally impaired, but who do not need to be watched or helped 24 hours a day.

Reports state that the defendants planned to submit claims for more service than was given on certain Medicaid patients at the adult daycare centers. The patients never received the extra services and the two brothers received around $5.5 million from Medicaid than they were entitled to.

George and Ernest Galletta both admitted to defrauding the Medicaid program during the plea hearing by increasing the numbers of services rendered and to filing claims for amounts higher than the amounts to which they were entitled.

In reports an example is shown in which both brothers submitted a payment request on December 3, 2003 for services on November 26, 2003. The services in question were submitted for 156 Medicaid recipients at the West Trenton center. However, they admitted that only around 101 attended the day care on the day in question.

In a civil settlement, concluded on February 1, 2007, the daycare company agreed to pay back the $5.5 million