A Eureka chiropractor faces up to 20 years in prison after being indicted for allegedly hatching a $1.6 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Federal grand jurors returned a 13-count indictment against Carrie A. Musselman that included charges of healthcare fraud, two counts of obstructing a federal audit and 10 counts of wire fraud. The latter charges are the most serious, carrying a possible 20-year prison term. The other charges have a five-year maximum imprisonment.
She is due to appear in federal court in Peoria to be arraigned on the charges. An attempt to reach Musselman on Thursday at the Eureka clinic, which remains open, was not immediately successful. A message was also left on the company's Facebook page.
The charges come 11 months after the FBI made a court-authorized visit to Preferred Care Medical Center, 1932 S. Main St., Eureka. At the time, federal authorities did not disclose any information regarding their visit to the medical office.
Musselman is accused of using improper coding and mischaracterizing "care that was provided in order to receive payment from Medicare that would not otherwise have been covered and to receive payments in greater amounts than would have been allowed," the indictment alleges.
At issue was who did the medical care at her clinics. Medicare allows up to 100% reimbursement for physicians but only reimburses at 85% for "mid-level providers," such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants.
The indictment alleges Musselman...
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