Local Home Healthcare Company Owner Accused of $800,000 Fraud

ST. LOUIS - The owner of a home healthcare company was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday and accused of defrauding the Missouri Medicaid Program and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs out of more than $800,000.

Natavia Boyd-Wells, 40, is now facing four counts of wire fraud and two counts of making false statements related to a healthcare matter.

Boyd-Wells is the owner of Touch of the Heart Home Health Care LLC, enrolled the company with the Missouri Medicaid Program and the Department of Veterans Affairs Community Care Network in 2020 and submitted the reimbursement claims to both agencies, the indictment says. Missouri Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs fund home healthcare services to enable patients to remain in their homes instead of long-term inpatient stays in hospitals and nursing homes.

Boyd-Wells submitted hundreds of fraudulent claims for services that she knew were never provided, in some cases because the veteran-patients were actually in the hospital, and could not possibly have received home healthcare services, the indictment says. Boyd-Wells submitted and caused to be submitted false and fraudulent electronic documentation of a patient visit to Missouri Medicaid in 2022 after officials conducting an audit requested documentation reflecting the services that Boyd-Wells claimed were provided to that patient, the indictment says. Boyd-Wells also submitted fraudulent Department of Veterans Affairs claims claiming that her patients received more than 24 hours of care in a single day, it says.

Missouri Medicaid paid at least $197,022 to a bank account controlled by Boyd-Wells and the Department of Veterans Affairs funded reimbursement payments of over $600,000

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

"This indictment should send a clear message that the VA Office of Inspector General will vigorously investigate those who would seek to defraud VA healthcare programs," said Special Agent in Charge Gregory Billingsley with the Department of Veterans Affairs OIG. "The VA OIG thanks the U.S. Attorney's Office and our law enforcement partners for their efforts in this investigation."

The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.