Optometrist Sentenced to Probation for Insurance Fraud

He billed for unnecessary eye photography.

A judge in Montana has sentenced an optometrist to probation for submitting false insurance claims, the Billings Gazette reports.

Gary Alfred White pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count each of Medicaid fraud and theft by insurance fraud. His sentence includes “a two-year deferred sentence on each count and probation during that time,” according to the Gazette.

He was accused of committing the crimes from 2012 to 2014. He practiced at Wal-Mart in Laurel, MT, until 2014, at which point he set up an office in the city of Plentywood. He was investigated by state authorities as well as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana.

Authorities said that in numerous instances he billed for eye photography that wasn’t necessary. He was also accused of diagnosing some patients with benign neoplasm when they did not, in fact, have the condition.

Read more at the Billings Gazette