Woman Charged with Carrying out TennCare Fraud at Pharmacy

  In another blow for taxpayers, Tennessee officials have announced the arrest of yet another person charged with TennCare fraud. The Office of Inspector General, with help from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, this week announced the arrest of Paula Hutcherson, 50, of Parsons. Authorities charged her with two counts of TennCare fraud and five counts of obtaining and/or attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud, according to a press release. “Hutcherson, who works in the medical field, called in a prescription for Ambien, a Schedule IV controlled substance, to a pharmacy by using the name of a provider she did not have permission to use and knowingly used the name of a TennCare enrollee in order to use their TennCare benefits to pay for the prescriptions,” the press release said. District Attorney General Jody Pickens is prosecuting.  TennCare fraud is a Class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison per charge, the press release said. The OIG, which is separate from TennCare, began full operation in February 2005 and has investigated cases leading to more than $3 million being repaid to TennCare, with a total estimated cost avoidance of more than $163.6 million for TennCare, according to…

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Henderson County Taxpayers Lost Money on New Patrol Cars, Tennessee Audit Says

Henderson County officials didn’t seek out competitive bids for four patrol cars that cost nearly $100,000, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week. Because of this, taxpayers lost out, Comptrollers said in the audit. “As a result, the best and lowest price may not have been obtained for the purchase of the patrol cars,” auditors wrote. Comptrollers said they selected a sample of 82 disbursements totaling $1,012,188 from a population of 7,662 vendor checks totaling $16,909,467. “Our examination revealed that competitive bids were not solicited for four patrol cars that cost $98,548. Purchasing procedures for the county are governed by the County Financial Management System of 1981, which requires competitive bids to be solicited through newspaper advertisement on all purchases exceeding $25,000. This deficiency is the result of a lack of management oversight.” The county’s finance director, not identified by name in the audit, responded to Comptrollers. “For several years, the county has budgeted funds for the purchase of patrol cars. In recent years, the purchase price for each patrol car has remained slightly below the required bid guidelines,” the finance director wrote. “Considering this, management did not solicit bids, which is in-line with purchases under $25,000 per…

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