Local podiatry office manager charged with Medicaid fraud

An Indianapolis woman is accused of defrauding Medicaid of $556,797 for her alleged role in submitting false claims for hundreds of medical devices for patients.

Leslie Smith, 62, of 4821 Mallard View Lane, was arrested June 8 by federal marshals and was charged with health care fraud in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis.

Her lawyer, William Dazey of Indiana Federal Community Defenders, could not be reached Tuesday for immediate comment. IBJ also left messages for Smith at her home and place of business Tuesday but did not immediately receive a response.

According to a complaint filed by the Inspector General’s office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Smith submitted more than 200 false claims to Medicaid for portable medical devices known as oximeters, which measure a person’s blood oxygen saturation.

Smith was office manager for her stepson’s podiatry practice, Healthy Feet LLC. But investigators said Smith billed Medicaid for oximeters without her stepson’s knowledge.

Federal investigators said a review of Indiana Medicaid claims data indicated that from approximately Oct. 1, 2019, through Dec. 3, 2022, Healthy Feet billed 232 times, and was reimbursed the maximum allowable amount of $2,399.99 per device. The Medicaid funds were wired to Leslie Smith’s private bank account.

The podiatrist at Healthy Feet LLC, Dr. Damon Smith, told federal investigators he had not ordered any of the oximeters, nor had he provided any to patients in several years.

Investigators said that two Indianapolis physicians were listed on the Medicaid claims as the prescribers for the oximeters. But they told investigators they had never actually prescribed the devices.

“Investigators visited or telephonically interviewed twenty-seven patient-beneficiaries, or their family member/care-giver, who had allegedly received the oximeter devices. … None of these patients stated that they received the device as claimed. Most of the patients had never received an oximeter from any provider,” the complaint stated.

Investigators found that the claims were submitted by a Comcast internet provider account, and traced it to Leslie Smith’s home address. They found that she had wired the payments not to the podiatry practice’s professional account, but to her personal account at Regions Bank.

Leslie Smith was charged with health care fraud before a U.S. magistrate. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and $250,000.