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Bogalusa man indicted on Medicaid fraud counts

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Back to Index Published on 3/1/01

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Bogalusa man indicted on Medicaid fraud counts

By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON

Advocate staff writer

A grand jury indicted a Bogalusa businessman on 47 counts of

Medicaid fraud Wednesday in connection with ambulance rides provided to nursing

home residents.

Talmage Wayne " Sonny " Corkern, 61, also was charged with one count

of filing or maintaining false public records.

Corkern, the owner of Washington Parish Ambulance Service, was

arrested last year for allegedly transporting patients who didn’t require an

ambulance. The fraud allegedly occurred in 1999.

His lawyer could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

The state Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the case,

gave this account of the allegations against Corkern:

Corkern’s business provides ambulance transportation to nursing home

residents.

In order to collect on claims submitted to the Medicaid program,

businesses have to submit proof that ambulance transportation was medically

necessary.

A nursing facility worker or a physician is supposed to supply that

proof by signing a certificate.

Corkern is accused of telling employees to fill out the certificates

themselves when the physician or nursing home worker would not.

Employees allegedly received instructions on falsifying certificates

during monthly staff meetings.

The business used a past diagnosis of a patient’s most extreme

medical condition to justify ambulance service.

According to the state Attorney General’s Office, some patients only

needed help getting to a doctor’s appointment.

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