A Washington, DC, dentist, who along with a dental hygienist, was found guilty of conspiring to defraud DC Medicaid of millions and other offenses was sentenced to 24 months in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Additionally, Dr. Steven A. Price, 70, was sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and must pay $3.4 million in restitution. The prosecution had requested a punishment of 108 months in prison. Moore is scheduled to be sentenced in October, according to a press release dated September 17 from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
“The days when individuals could hide behind complex billing schemes to steal from the American taxpayer are over,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said in a press release.
In March, Price, who operated the Washington Smile Center, and Keidi Moore, 39, who was employed there as a hygienist, were found guilty of conspiracy, healthcare fraud, false statements, and wire fraud after a jury deliberated for more than a week.
From January 2017 to March 2022, Price and Moore allegedly conspired to defraud DC Medicaid by filing or causing to be filed false claims for dental services that were not provided to beneficiaries. Price and Moore reportedly submitted multiple claims for clinical crown lengthening and space maintainer procedures totaling more than $4 million. In some instances, patients were alleged to have received more than 30 clinical crown lengthening procedures and more than 20 space maintainers.
The false billing for these types of claims stopped after DC Medicaid put in a preauthorization requirement for the clinical crown lengthening procedure, according to the press release.
