Livingston Dentist Charged in $5.5M Medicaid Scam

A dentist from Livingston accused in a scam that stole over $5.5M from Medicaid over six years was indicted Thursday, along with six of her alleged accomplices, Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced in a release Thursday.

According to the release, Mary D. “Marydee” Anerousis, 47, worked as a practicing dentist at New Jersey Mobile Dental in Colts Neck, which overbilled Medicaid for practices they provided at nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day care facilities, and private homes throughout the state.

Anerousis, four other dentists and two office managers are implicated in the 31-count indictment, which charged the group with conspiracy, insurance fraud, health care claims fraud, theft by deception and misconduct by a corporate official, all in the second degree, and third-degree Medicaid fraud, the release said.

“These defendants’ alleged actions not only defrauded the Medicaid program, but also preyed upon vulnerable individuals who sought to utilize NJ Mobile’s services,” Chiesa said.

According to the indictment, Anerousis and her accomplices allegedly overbilled Medicaid for services and added arbitrary charges, like a “Behavior Management,” charge and a “trip charge” to almost every Medicaid patient they treated, Chiesa said.

Between Jan. 2003 and Aug. 2009, the dentists also allegedly submitted 3,714 claims to Medicaid for dental procedures that were never performed, and in one case even submitted a claim for a procedure done on a patient who was deceased, the release said.

An investigation into the practices of the now-defunct company began last year when the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit uncovered NJ Mobile’s suspicious billing, the release said. The investigation included undercover surveillance, and a search of the Colts Neck office, officials said.

The group is facing at least five years in state prison, and fines of up to $150,000, per count.