Woman sentenced for health care fraud

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The owner of a home health care business in Suffolk has been sentenced to more than six years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding the state's Medicaid program.

Forty-two-year-old Janice Holland was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Norfolk. She also was order to pay more than $630,000 in restitution to the Virginia Medicaid program.

Holland had pleaded guilty in September to health care fraud, alteration of records and aggravated identity theft.

Holland's business, A Caring Hand Home Health Care Services Inc., provided respite services to Medicaid recipients. The short-term care is provided to patients who normally are cared for by a family member or other unpaid caregiver.

Prosecutors say Holland filed false claims for respite care that wasn't provided and altered and falsified her office records.