Washington, D.C. – Rural/Metro Corporation and Rural/Metro Mid-Atlantic, Inc., an ambulance transport service provider and former provider under the District of Columbia Medicaid program, has agreed to pay the United States $951,602 to settle allegations that they were financially liable under the False Claims Act for false Medicaid billings, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson, and District of Columbia Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby.

The settlement agreement concludes an investigation into Rural/Metro Mid-Atlantic for filing claims under the Medicaid program for ambulance transport services. The investigation, conducted by the FBI’s Health Care Fraud Squad, Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG), and the District of Columbia Office of the Inspector General, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU), uncovered false billings that occurred between September 1999 and May 2002 for ambulance transport services that the company represented were rendered to D.C. Medicaid recipients. Based on its investigation, the Government contended that certain ambulance transport services were not medically necessary, were not authorized under applicable Medicaid provisions, were not provided at the level of service billed, and/or not provided at all. Rural/Metro agreed to settle under the Federal False Claims Act in the amount of $951,602, a portion of which goes to the federal government, which contributes to each state Medicaid program. The parent company is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company denied liability as part of the settlement.

In announcing the settlement, U.S. Attorney Taylor, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini, HHS Inspector General Levinson, and District of Columbia Inspector General Willoughby praised the work of FBI Special Agent Leah Nemetz, HHS OIG Special Agent Tracy McFadden and Chief Investigator Jacqueline Franklin of the MFCU for their investigation of the case. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Mussenden, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Silverman of the MFCU, and Theodore Radway, former Senior Counsel, Office of Counsel to the Inspector General, for HHS for their efforts in the investigation and subsequent settlement of the case.