The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced that two individuals have been charged with falsely billing MassHealth’s Personal Care Attendant (PCA) program for more than $150,000 in services that were allegedly never provided.
Jasmin Bryan, age 45, of Haverhill, and Victor Simard, age 42, were indicted by an Essex County Grand Jury on July 15, 2024. The Defendants were charged with one count each of Medicaid False Claims, G.L. c. 118E, § 40 and Larceny Over $1,200, G.L. c. 266, § 30(1).
The AGO alleges that Bryan, a MassHealth member, and Simard, her personal care attendant, engaged in a scheme to submit claims to MassHealth for PCA services that Simard never provided to Bryan. Since September 12, 2019, Bryan has allegedly submitted timesheets to MassHealth’s fiscal intermediary reflecting that Simard has been providing services to her during times when he was incarcerated. According to jail calls between Bryan and Simard, both individuals were aware of and financially benefitted from the submission of the timesheets. The AGO estimates that MassHealth has paid more than $150,000 in claims for services that were never provided.
All of the charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
This case is being handled by Assistant Attorneys General Natalie Rutkowski and Heidi Gosule, and Investigator Emily Hunt, all of the AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division. The Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and MassHealth provided substantial assistance during the investigation.
This matter is the AGO’s most recent effort to uphold the integrity of the MassHealth PCA program. Most recently, in April 2024, the AGO announced indictments of individuals associated with PCA fraud schemes in the Worcester area. In June 2023, the AGO announced that defendants in three separate criminal PCA cases pleaded guilty to defrauding the MassHealth program.
The Massachusetts Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $5,865,996 for federal fiscal year 2024. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $1,955,330 for FY 2024, is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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