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ALF Bosses May Have Blocked Treatment

Health care workers across Florida have been arrested this week on charges they broke the law while on the job.

In Escambia County, two assisted living facility supervisors were jailed for refusing mental health workers access to residents, meaning the patients went without treatment for weeks, according to the Pensacola News Journal.

The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit says Administrator Belie Brock Williams is charged with three counts of felony abuse and Assistant Administrator Adrienne Taylor is facing three counts of felony neglect. Each one faces up to 15 years in prison on the charges, which stem from information provided to the Northwest Florida Long Term Care Ombudsman Program Office, the News Journal reports.

In Orange County, the Attorney General’s Office has charged a trio for fraudulently soliciting people eligible for Medicaid coverage for mental health treatment, the Orlando Sentinel reports. A&S Quality Care owner Shirley Simmons, and employees Keisha Carter and Kandida Michel-Ross, both 36, all face charges that they got $25 kickbacks for signing up clients for treatment that was never completed or was not covered, according to the Sentinel.

Also, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that Tisha Krutsinger, 40, has been arrested for linking a personal credit card to an account at a DeBary family practice, where she was office manager. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said she spent about $136,000 paying for such personal services such as car repairs, orthodontics and a housekeeper. She also bought tanning sessions, theme park tickets and a housekeeper, the News-Journal reports.

Originally founded in December 2006 as an independent grassroots publication dedicated to coverage of health issues in Florida, Health News Florida was acquired by WUSF Public Media in September 2012.