Former nurse practitioner in Butte admits health care fraud; received nearly $600,000 in false claims

MISSOULA — A former nurse practitioner in Butte admitted on Thursday to prescribing controlled substances despite having a suspended license and to falsely billing an insurance company approximately $61 million for vitamin B-12 injections in which she received nearly $600,000 for the false claims, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said today.

The defendant, Tristan Ashley Svejkovsky, 40, pleaded guilty to health care fraud and to use of a registration number issued to another person. Svejkovsky faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on the health care fraud charge and a maximum of four years in prison, a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release on the charge of using the registration of another person.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto presided. Sentencing was set for Dec. 12 before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Svejkovsky was released pending further proceedings.

The government alleged in court documents that Svejkovsky was a nurse practitioner whose license was suspended by the Montana Board of Nursing on April 1, 2022. Svejkovsky continued to prescribe controlled substances using her own name and Drug Enforcement Administration registration number until June 8, 2022. The DEA contacted Svejkovsky through her attorney, and she agreed to voluntarily surrender her DEA registration. However, Svejkovsky continued to prescribe controlled substances using the name and DEA registration number of a friend who also was nurse practitioner. Svejkovsky misrepresented to her friend that her nursing license was on probation, not suspended, and that she would not use her friend’s information to prescribe drugs. In fact, Svejkovsky used her friend’s name and DEA registration number for at least 12 prescriptions of controlled substances.

The government further alleged that Svejkovsky billed Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana for vitamin B-12 injections that did not occur. In August 2021, Svejkovsky started falsely increasing the number of units of a standard vitamin B-12 injection from one unit to 1,000 units. This increased the corresponding payment from the insurance company for each injection from roughly $4.88 to $4,880. After her license was suspended, Svejkovsky started submitting numerous such claims each month to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana by backdating claims to supposedly before her license was suspended. This conduct continued through May 2022, when Svejkovsky submitted four claims, this time claiming $15 million per vitamin B-12 injection to a new patient. Svejkovsky never gave that patient any vitamin injections, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana did not pay those claims. In total, Svejkovsky billed the insurance company at least $61,995,000 for false vitamin B-12 injections and received at least $593,583 from those false claims.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case. The DEA and FBI conducted the investigation.

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