Nurse-CEO Sentenced To Federal Prison For Health Care Fraud And Money Laundering

DES MOINES, IA – On September 15, 2014, Angela Shae Ellison, age 47, of Centerville, Iowa, the former owner and CEO of Cornerstone Counseling Center, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose on charges of health care fraud and money laundering, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. Ellison was ordered to serve one year and one day in prison, and was ordered to pay $724,359.26 in restitution, and pay $200 to the Crime Victim Fund.

Ellison, who previously worked as a nurse, pled guilty to orchestrating a fraudulent billing scheme in which she directed employees of Cornerstone Counseling Center to bill Medicaid, Wellmark, Aetna, and United Health over 6,000 times using the names and national provider identification number of various doctors who did not perform the services for which the bills were submitted. Many of the fraudulent bills involved the name and identification number of a doctor who never performed any work for the Center. Over $1 million in bogus bills were submitted, and the various insurance entities paid out more than $700,000 in claims.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General, the Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and the Iowa Insurance Fraud Bureau. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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