KANSAS, October 27 - WICHITA – (October 27, 2022) – A Wichita woman has been sentenced to repay the Kansas Medicaid system more than $15,000 for making false claims for services that were not provided, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said today.

Cynthia Fisher, 59, of Wichita, was sentenced Tuesday in Sedgwick County District Court on felony charges of making a false claim, statement or representation to the Kansas Medicaid program. Sedgwick County District Judge Christopher Magana sentenced Fisher to repay the Kansas Medicaid system $15,064.28, serve 12 months of probation, complete a theft offender class and perform community service. Fisher pleaded guilty the charges on September 13.

The case was investigated by Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division of Schmidt’s office. Investigators determined that Fisher was a Medicaid beneficiary. Her personal care attendant died in April 2021, but Fisher did not notify the financial management service organization, Independent Living Resource Center in Wichita. Instead, Fisher used the deceased personal care attendant’s personal identification number and submitted false claims to the Medicaid as if the attendant was alive and providing care. Fisher also had the deceased’s payee card and PIN number and was spending the money that Medicaid was providing. The practice continued until March 2021, when the Independent Living Resource Center was conducting an annual update and learned that the personal care attendant had been deceased for nearly a year.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant Attorney General Eve Kemple of Schmidt’s office.

The following statement about the Kansas Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is required by the federal government: The Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Division in the Attorney General’s Office receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $2,307,236 for Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2023. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $769,075 for FFY 2023, is funded by the Office of the Kansas Attorney General from moneys recovered in litigation.