Florida Official Relieved To See The Medical Fraud Allegations Against Him Disclosed, Maintains Innocence

Detailed allegations of medical fraud against a St. Johns County official have been made public, a move that Commissioner Bill McClure said was a relief. The copies of unsealed search warrants used to raid two medical clinics owned by McClure were obtained by First Coast News and are now available to the public. The state and federal investigators were looking into suspected medical fraud when they raided the two clinics. The authorities say they suspected that McClure and his mother, Paula Stowell, were improperly billing Medicare and Medicaid. Authorities also suspect medicine was being practiced without a license and prescriptions were forged. Among the accusations aimed at McClure’s clinics was at least one alleged forged death certificate.

Two Florida medical clinics, Medi M.D., were raided on October 9. One was in Palencia and the other in St. Augustine. Computers and medical records were among items seized in the raid. On the warrants, the explanation of justification was suspected medical fraud. Both clinics will reopen Monday.

McClure said the Florida Attorney General’s documents will be addressed point by point, and asserts there was no criminal wrong-doing at either clinic.

“I’m actually relieved to see the documents and see what I am accused of,” he said. “Now, I can respond to these allegations and every single allegation will have a direct response, and I believe it’s all just misinformation, which is unfortunate because I think had there been due diligence done by the state, they could have avoided all of this.”

McClure told reporters he suspected the allegations of medical fraud were political in nature. No charges have been filed against the Florida commissioner as of Saturday, according to the First Coast News.

The accusations were more specifically detailed in the documents that have been made public. McClure and his mother allegedly directed McClure’s employees to “falsify medical records and Medicaid bills so it would appear that medical services were provided to patients when the patient never came into the clinic and no services were provided.”

McClure argues the medical fraud accusations and asserts that absolutely no services were ever billed that were not actually performed. One document includes a sworn statement from one of the clinic’s office managers, who claims she saw McClure’s mother forge a doctor’s name on a prescription for narcotics and then give the prescription to a patient. The statement also stated that the same office manager was told that it was okay “to falsely change dates of service on patient records and on bills submitted to Medicaid and Medicare to increase reimbursements.”

A former employee alleged that she saw McClure himself forge a doctor’s signature on a death certificate. McClure denies all medical fraud accusations.

“What it doesn’t say is all of the people who were interviewed and what they said because I’ve been contacted by other former employees who have been interviewed and they said nothing is going on,” McClure explained. “There is no fraud going on at Medi M.D.”

Mark Barnett, the St. Johns County, Florida county commissioner’s lawyer, released a statement assuring the innocence of McClure and the medical clinics owned by McClure.

“We received the documents by the State earlier this week, and are carefully studying them. From the outset of this case, we have cooperated fully with the Attorney General’s Office, and will continue to do so. Naturally, an application for a search warrant is a one-sided document, that is based on hearsay, and often includes information from persons who are either lacking knowledge, or have an honest misunderstanding. We had no notice of their presentation, and no opportunity to respond, or set the record straight. Now that these documents have been made public, we have the opportunity (to) clarify and correct these issues. Once the truth comes out, Mr. McClure’s good name will be cleared, and he can continue as the outstanding public servant that he is. We are committed to the truth, and confident that, once the truth is known, this investigation into Bill McClure will be closed.”

“We served a search warrant,” Whitney Ray, a spokesperson from the Office of the Attorney General, told First Coast News, of the medical fraud investigation, adding that “the warrant is part of a criminal investigation.”

[Photo via First Coast News]