A Chandler woman faces three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraudulently billing Medicare for medical equipment that was never provided to patients.
Frances Jones, 52, was sentenced on April 9 by U.S. District Court Judge John Hinderaker. She was also ordered by the court to pay $862,762.32 in restitution for losses incurred by the Medicare program related to the case.
Jones' prison sentence is 36 months, and she has been ordered to self-surrender by May 10, court documents show. Upon her release, she will be subject to supervised probation for another 36 months.
Jones, a licensed Medicare provider of durable medical equipment and the owner and operator of Bisbee-based Oxicheck Northwest, admitted that she fraudulently billed Medicare between 2011 and 2018 for equipment that was not sent to patients. According to court filings, Jones had submitted more than 1,600 Medicaid claims during that time.
Jones also used Medicare patient and medical provider identification to create falsified records of transactions without their knowledge or consent, court documents show. She was indicted on the charges in May 2018.
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