Tompkins County transportation provider arrested for Medicaid fraud

A Tompkins County transportation operator was arrested and charged with stealing more than $1 million from Medicaid through fictitious billing, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced.

David Moore, owner of ASAP 2, was arrested on June 21 and charged with first-degree grand larceny, two counts of second-degree health-care fraud, and three counts of medical assistance provider prohibited practices.

“Patients across the state depend on medical transportation providers to access the care they need,” James said in a statement. “David Moore exploited his role to steal from New York’s Medicaid program, putting vulnerable New Yorkers at risk and undermining honest businesses that provide essential transportation services.”

According to James, Moore allegedly engaged in fictitious billing along with a kickback scheme to overcharge for transportation services, paying Medicaid recipients to use his company for rides for which he overcharged Medicaid.

Medicaid recipients who lack access to transportation can use approved transportation providers to travel to and from covered medical services. The providers receive reimbursements from Medicaid.

From January 2019 to August 2023, Moore allegedly paid Medicaid recipients to use his service, submitted claims for fictitious trips, and significantly inflated the mileage of trips that did happen. According to the attorney general’s office, Moore would submit claims for fictitious trips by billing trips with multiple passengers as if each passenger was transported in a separate vehicle. The result was more than $1 million in overcharges to Medicaid.

James also alleges that Moore paid kickbacks to Medicaid patients to use his services, recruiting customers in order to fraudulently bill Medicaid for more rides. He allegedly made off-the-books payments to Medicaid recipients using Cash App and Venmo to incentivize them to take rides with his service. His alleged practices undermined the businesses of other transportation providers in the Southern Tier, according to James.

The attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Rochester regional staff investigated the matter, with Regional Director William Gargan handling the criminal case.