A Brentwood optometrist is facing up to five years in federal prison after defrauding Medicare out of $6.9 million.
Helen Boerman, 48, pleaded guilty in federal court on May 5 to filing fraudulent claims to the program, according to a May 7 news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Over a 3-year period from 2021 to 2024, Boerman used her practice, Brentwood Eye Care, to submit false claims asking for reimbursements for new wound care products she hadn't purchased or used.
She also split grafts, made from human placenta, between eyes or between patients despite them being single-use, single-eye products, court records said. She then billed Medicare as if she had used two separate grafts.
She would submit claims for patients on multiple days when in actuality the patient was only in the office for an appointment three out of the six billed days, court records said.
Boerman also filed false claims to TennCare.
"As part of her guilty plea, Boerman admitted that during the course of her criminal conduct she submitted false Medicare claims in the amount of approximately $11 million and received approximately $6.9 million," the news release said.
Boerman will return to court Sept. 10 for her sentencing hearing. In addition to prison time, she faces up to a $250,000 fine, up to three years of supervised release, and the judge may order her to pay that $6.9 million back in restitution to the government.
According to state records, she still...
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