Southwest Idaho woman gets jail, fines for Medicaid fraud

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A southwestern Idaho woman who pleaded guilty to defrauding the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Medicaid program by falsely claiming services to participants with developmental disabilities has been sentenced to 180 days in the Ada County Jail and must repay more than $146,000 in criminal restitution.

Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced Monday that 58-year-old Janna Lyn Miller of Kuna received the sentence Thursday in 4th District Court.

District Court Judge Samuel Hoagland also ordered Miller to pay $83,000 in criminal restitution as well as $2,000 in court costs. Officials recovered $64,000 in fraudulent payments before sentencing.

Miller also received a five-year suspended sentence with five years of probation. She will have to spend a minimum one year in state prison if she violates her probation.

In addition to the criminal restitution, Miller owes the state more than $234,000 in additional overpayments and related penalties. All told, she is responsible for paying more than $375,000 related to her company’s actions.

The attorney general’s office said that Miller owned and operated Inclusion, Inc., a Meridian-based company that provided home health, supervised employment, mental health counseling and social support services to Idaho Medicaid participants with developmental disabilities.

Besides the main office in Meridian, the company also had offices in Sandpoint, Coeur d’Alene and Twin Falls.

The attorney general’s office said Miller wrongfully obtained Medicaid funds by making false representations or directing workers to make false representations regarding services provided.

Miller’s prosecution resulted from a coordinated effort by the U.S. Department of Health and Welfare’s Medicaid Program Integrity Unit, the Idaho Branch of the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the state attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.