Benton Co. Woman Charged 4th Time with TennCare Fraud

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Benton County woman is charged for the fourth time with TennCare fraud involving doctor shopping for prescription drugs, using TennCare as payment.

The Office of Inspector General (OIG), with the assistance of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, today announced the arrest of Aleisha L. Wagner, 31, of Holladay. She is charged in a Davidson County indictment with using TennCare to visit multiple providers in a short period of time in order to obtain prescriptions for the painkiller Hydrocodone, with TennCare paying for either the clinical visits or the prescriptions. In addition, Wagner was charged with two counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud. 

Wagner’s most recent arrest was last month after a Montgomery County indictment for using TennCare to doctor shop for the painkiller Oxycodone. She was arrested a month before that, in July, when she was charged in Henry County with doctor shopping for the painkiller Hydrocodone.  Investigators were working the most recent cases at the same time. Her first arrest was October of 2015 when she was charged in Montgomery County with three counts of using TennCare to obtain prescriptions for both Oxycodone and Hydrocodone, using TennCare as payment.

“The abuse of TennCare benefits, especially to obtain pain medications, is one of our many priorities,” Inspector General Manny Tyndall said. “Local law enforcement, providers and the healthcare community are with us in the effort to weed this problem out of the TennCare program.”

District Attorney General John W. Carney is prosecuting. As of July 1, 2016, TennCare fraud was changed to a Class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

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 latest figures. To date, 2,727 people have been charged with TennCare fraud.

Anyone can report suspected TennCare fraud by calling 1-800-433-3982 toll-free from anywhere in Tennessee, or visit the website and follow prompts that read “Report TennCare Fraud.”