Release date:
6/12/2018
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein announced today that Dr. Duke Ellington Ellis, II was sentenced today in federal district court in the Middle District of North Carolina for health care fraud and false medical entries. Ellis was paid to help Nature’s Reflections, LLC, a North Carolina company based in Durham, submit fraudulent billing claims to Medicaid. He was sentenced to thirteen months imprisonment followed by three years of post-release supervision and was ordered to pay $1,077,967.31 in restitution to the North Carolina Medicaid Program.
“Cheating Medicaid wastes tax dollars and can cause harm to patients in need of medical care,” said Attorney General Stein. “Many of these patients are among our most vulnerable citizens.”
Ellis’ conviction resolves allegations that he was paid by a behavioral health company, Nature’s Reflections, LLC, to forge the signature of a licensed psychologist on fraudulent medical service orders for Medicaid recipients between 2011 and 2013. Nature’s Reflections, LLC, submitted fraudulent billing claims to Medicaid based on the forged medical service orders. This conviction was obtained by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina with the assistance of the North Carolina Department of Justice, Medicaid Investigations Division; the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; Internal Revenue Service; the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, Office of Compliance and Program Integrity; North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation; North Carolina Secretary of State; Alliance Behavioral Healthcare; Eastpointe; Sandhills Center; and Cardinal Innovations Healthcare.
About the Medicaid Investigations Division
Stein’s MID investigates fraud and abuse by healthcare companies and providers, as well as patient abuse and neglect in facilities that are funded by Medicaid. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that helps provide medical care for people with limited income. To date, the MID has recovered more than $500 million in restitution and penalties for North Carolina.
Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484
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