Colorado AG: Alleged Medicaid scheme cost taxpayers $1.2M

DENVER ( KDVR ) — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser announced Wednesday that he had filed fraud and theft charges against a woman accused in a $1.2 million Medicaid fraud scheme.

Natasha Sawyer, 44, from Denver, is accused of submitting fake claims to the state when she worked as a Medicaid biller for durable medical equipment company Element Medical Supply.

According to a Colorado Attorney General’s Office release, from May 2020 to March 2021, Sawyer submitted claims for enteral formula, which is a liquid nutrition product used to feed people who aren’t able to consume enough food orally. Allegedly, only around 5% of the product that was billed was delivered to patients.

Sawyer is facing two charges: Medicaid fraud and waste – false claims of $1 million or more, and cybercrime – theft of $1 million or more. According to the release, both are class two felonies.

“Not only does taking advantage of the state’s Medicaid system harm all of us as taxpayers, it harms the entire health care system by threatening to erode trust in providers,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a release. “We will not hesitate to investigate and prosecute those who exploit Medicaid and the patients the system serves.”

Coloradans can report suspected Medicaid fraud to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing. Reports can be submitted in several ways, including online .

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