On March 5, 2025, Tasha Saunders pled guilty to a Medicaid scheme that stole more than $3.6 million from the U.S. taxpayer. However, this wasn’t Saunders’ first rodeo in Medicaid fraud. Almost four years earlier, Saunders pled guilty to another Medicaid scheme that resulted in her being placed on the Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Exclusion List. HHS-OIG does that to a select group of fraudsters who show potential to commit fraud again.
On May 28, 2021, Saunders pleaded guilty to Medicaid Fraud using two mental health companies that were under her supervision. She had created fake patient files using the stolen identities of licensed counselors and submitted fraudulent claims to Medicaid Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP) for services that had not been provided. At that point, Saunders was sentenced to nine months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $470,744.67, along with being banned from participating in Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal healthcare programs – an obstacle that was not going to hinder Saunders from further fraud.
Knowing she was on the Exclusion List, Saunders lied on her next Medicaid provider application. In this scheme, Saunders stole the identities of legitimate mental health providers who were faculty members at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Using recipients’ and providers’ names without their permission or knowledge, she created fake referrals for services and fake rehabilitation plans for each recipient billed, receiving more than $3.6 million in fraudulent Medicaid claims.
Saunders pleaded guilty on February 25, 2025, to Medicaid fraud, again, and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 21, 2025.
Shout out to the Medicaid Fraud Unit in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Maryland woman pleads guilty to stealing $3.6 million in Medicaid fraud scheme” published by CBS News Baltimore on March 5, 2025.
A Parkville woman pleaded guilty to stealing more than $3.6 million in a Maryland Medicaid fraud case, the attorney general’s office said Tuesday. Tasha Saunders, 44, admitted to operating two behavioral health companies that submitted fraudulent claims for psychiatric rehabilitation program services between November 2019 and September 2024.
Investigators found she forged signatures, created fake patient records, and stole the identities of healthcare providers and Medicaid recipients. “This outrageous conduct is an insult to the one in five Marylanders who rely on Medicaid for health coverage,” Brown said.
