A Pikesville-based health care company and its owner have been ordered to pay nearly $500,000 after violating a 2014 settlement agreement in a Medicaid fraud case, Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced Thursday.
Bernadette Nwanguma and her firm, A1 Reliable Medical & Healthcare Services Inc., at 222 Milford Mill Road, failed to comply with the terms of a 2014 settlement agreement, the attorney general said in the announcement. The violation resulted in a $491,922 judgment against the company.
The settlement had resolved allegations that the company billed the state's Medicaid program for equipment and supplies "for which the company did not have a prescriber's order or certification of continuous medical need," according to Frosh's office. For some of the equipment, the company did not have proof of delivery, the settlement said.
A1 Reliable also was alleged to have submitted Medicaid claims for home health care performed by people who were not licensed to do so, according to the settlement.
No attorney was listed for Nwanguma in online court records, and no one answered at a phone number listed for her. A woman who answered the phone at A1 Reliable's office on Milford Mill Road said she was unaware of the situation and hung up.
"This company agreed to operate lawfully and comply with the terms of the 2014 settlement agreement," Frosh said in a statement. "A1 failed to live up to its obligations. We sued the company and its owner, resulting in nearly a half-million dollar judgment in favor of the State."