Medical staffing CEO gets prison in Medicaid fraud case

Rose Umana, 49, of Mechanicsburg, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Sylvia H. Rambo.

Umana, the owner and operator of Vision Healthcare Services Inc. on Linglestown Road in Dauphin County was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2014 on health care fraud and money laundering charges. The medical staffing company and home care services provider serves Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry and York Counties.

Federal officials told the Business Journal that Umana subsequently pleaded guilty to making false statements relating to health care matters, engaging in monetary transactions involving criminally derived property, and identity theft.

A call to Vision Healthcare went to voicemail Thursday morning, and a message left seeking comment was not immediately returned.

According to the company’s website, Umana “is an experienced Nurse with impeccable skills,” whose credentials include registered rurse and certified legal nurse consultant.

Pennsylvania Department of State records show that an RN license for Rose Eyoma Umana was first issued in 1998, renewed in March 2014 but expired on April 30, 2016.

Feds: False IDs created

Between January 2012 and January 2014, federal prosecutors said, Umana created false identification documents and fictitious occupational licenses for workers.

Umana then submitted bills to Medicaid for medical services not provided by the workers, billed Medicaid for services provided by someone other than the person claimed to be the provider, and billed Medicaid for services not provided or provided by someone not qualified to provide the service, prosecutors said.

Medicaid is a joint federal–state program that provides health care and nursing home coverage to low-income people, and is administered in Pennsylvania by the Department of Human Services. Vision Healthcare Services had been a Medicaid provider since 2006.

Umana must pay back $1,184,224, which prosecutors said was the total loss resulting from her conduct, as well as forfeiting $656,421.

She was ordered to begin serving her 36-month sentence on Jan. 23.