Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced that Aqua Vision Care, LLC has agreed to pay $143,336 to settle allegations of filing false Medicaid claims for vision services that were not provided. The settlement consists of $71,668 in restitution for unprovided services and a $71,668 civil penalty.
According to the news release distributed on Monday, March 17: “Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced today that Aqua Vision Care, LLC has agreed to pay $143,336.00 to settle allegations that it violated the Maryland False Health Claims Act by submitting or causing claims to be submitted to the Medicaid Program for vision services that were not provided.”
Kelechi Mezu Nnabue, a licensed optometrist who provided vision services at Aqua Vision, certified that the services billed to the Medicaid program were rendered, medically indicated, and necessary for the patients’ health.
The State’s allegations concern claims submitted by Aqua Vision for eye exams. Aqua Vision, located in the 1000 block of Reisterstown Road in Pikesville, billed Medicaid for eye exams for the same patients on a monthly, if not more frequent, basis.
Medicaid covers a maximum of one optometric examination per year for recipients under the age of 21, and one every two years for recipients 21 and older, unless time limits are waived by the Program due to medical necessity.
The amount paid in restitution represents $71,668.00 in unpaid vision care services, as well as a $71,668.00 civil penalty.
Attorney General Brown thanked the Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit, particularly Assistant Attorney General Catherine Schuster Pascale, Senior Investigators Gordon Carew and Shannon Beatty, and Senior Fraud Analyst Todd Sheffer, for their efforts in this matter.
The Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit receives 75% of its funding from the United States Department of Health and Human Services through a grant award of $6,845,828 for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025.
The remaining 25%, $2,281,939 for FY 2025, is funded by the state of Maryland.”
