A Greensboro-based medical transport company was sentenced in federal court for healthcare fraud. Gate City Transportation, Inc. was ordered to pay a $100 fine, a $400 special assessment, and restitution in the amount of $5,245,640.02 to the N.C. Fund for Medical Assistance. In April 2008, Gate City Transportation enrolled with the North Carolina Medicaid Program as an ambulance provider. Initially, Gate City Transportation owned and operated convalescent ambulances. Convalescent ambulance services are used to provide non-emergency medical transportation to stretcher-bound patients.
From November 2010 until February 2015, Gate City Transportation stopped operating convalescent ambulances and provided non-emergency transport to ambulatory and wheelchair-bound clients using vans. The majority of Gate City Transportation’s clients were Medicaid recipients. Gate City Transportation could have applied to the county Division of Social Services (DSS) for approval to provide non-emergency medical van transportation to ambulatory and wheelchair-bound clients, but did not do so. Despite providing van transportation, Gate City Transportation continued to submit claims to Medicaid using ambulance codes which were reimbursed at a higher rate. Gate City Transportation was deliberately ignorant to the false claims because it wanted to continue receiving the higher reimbursement rate. The false claims caused the Medicaid program to suffer a loss of over five million dollars. During the investigation of Gate City Transportation, law enforcement seized and forfeited more than $5 million in cash and property representing proceeds of the scheme.
