The District of Maryland US Attorney’s Office has filed a criminal complaint charging three individuals with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, conspiracy to commit false statements relating healthcare matters, and false statements on healthcare matters.
According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, the three individuals conspired with others to commit healthcare fraud by producing and selling fraudulent nursing transcripts and diplomas, which were used to indicate that various individuals completed necessary courses and clinical hours to obtain medical licenses and practice in the healthcare field.
The affidavit explains that two of the individuals owned and operated a nursing school located in Virginia (Nursing School 1). In 2013, the nursing school was forced to close due to violations of Virginia law board regulations. The criminal complaint alleges that after that time, the two individuals operated the former nursing school as an entity where individuals could purchase backdated, illegitimate registered nurse (RN) or licensed practical nurse (LPN) transcripts and certifications. One of the individuals and his associates also allegedly coached otherwise unqualified individuals to pass nursing board exams. Some of the unqualified individuals allegedly obtained employment at various healthcare providers in the District of Maryland. Per the criminal complaint, approximately 175 of these nursing graduates have applied to the Maryland Board of Nursing.
Additionally, the criminal complaint states that one of the individuals conspired with an individual in Florida to sell illegitimate nursing degrees from a second nursing school (Nursing School 2) established by one of the individuals in July 2016. In 2017, the Florida Board of Nursing forced the school to cease operations due to a low National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) passing rate. The affidavit alleges that the cost of illegitimate degrees from Nursing School 2 included preparation classes solely designed to pass NCLEX and not to provide formal education.
The criminal complaint also states that investigators obtained a list of Nursing School 2 graduates who applied to take the New York State Board Examination. Some of these individuals whose transcripts were backdated are included in the list as having passed the New York State Board Examination.
Court documents also detail two separate FBI undercover operations in which the FBI purchased fraudulent degrees. In 2020, a confidential source allegedly obtained a fraudulent RN degree from Nursing School 2, and in March 2021, an FBI undercover agent purchased a diploma from Nursing School 2 for approximately $16,000. The three individuals and their co-conspirators allegedly sold illegitimate transcripts and degrees for between $6,000 and $18,000 each.
If you have information to report regarding this case or any other case involving falsified medical degrees, please call the FBI hotline at (410) 277-6999.
Compliance Perspective
Issue
Healthcare requires extensive background checks on all employees. The background checks should be comprehensive to ensure that each potential employee is qualified and permitted to be employed in a healthcare facility. Before an employee is officially hired into a position, a criminal and sex offender search must be completed, and the individual must be cleared in the databases. Additionally, an identification verification check, drug screening, past employment history, education verification, and federal exclusion list must be completed for all employment candidates. Positions that require certifications or licenses require license verification. After hire, it is essential that the data bases are continuously monitored to ensure that no current employee has recently been placed on an exclusion list. Routine monitoring will ensure that employees are legally permitted to practice healthcare in your facility.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures on preemployment and continuous monitoring of employee checks. Update your policies as needed.
- Train appropriate staff on your policy and procedures for employee checks. Document that the trainings occurred and file each signed document in each employee individual education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure that all preemployment employment checks have been completed and that continuous monitoring is ongoing.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TOPIC VIEW: STAYING ON TOP OF EMPLOYEE CHECKS.
