Valdosta doctor in federal court

VALDOSTA — A Lowndes County physician is in federal court this week on charges of health-care fraud, according to court documents.

Dr. Douglas Moss and physician's assistant Shawn Tywon were indicted by a federal grand jury May 8, 2018, on six counts of health-care fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud.

Tywon agreed to a plea deal April 1, pleading guilty to the conspiracy count. He faces up to a $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison, according to the plea deal.

Moss' trial began Monday.

The indictment accuses Moss and Tywon of trying to defraud Medicare and Medicaid programs by submitting false claims for services at local nursing homes that they never provided.

In 2011, Moss accepted positions as medical director for Holly Hill Nursing Home, Valdosta Nursing Home, Lakehaven Nursing Home and Crestwood Nursing Home, court documents state. According to the Georgia Composite Medical Board's website, Moss' specialty is emergency medicine and he received his Georgia medical license in 1995.

From January 2012 through December 2014, Moss, Tywon and "co-conspirators, both known and unknown to the Grand Jury" submitted more than 31,000 claims for nursing home care to Medicare and Georgia Medicaid, according to the indictment.

Both defendants knew that many of these services were not rendered by Moss and were not medically necessary, the indictment claims.

Among the claims made by the indictment:

• Records showed one patient was known to be asleep when a supposed doctor's visit occurred.

• There were at least 100 separate times when Moss' practice claimed he saw more than 100 nursing home patients in a single day.

• In February 2014, there were 85 billed nursing home visits supposedly made by Moss, even though travel records show he was in Las Vegas at the time.

The indictment calls for forfeiture of assets in the event of a conviction.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.