Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced that Aqua Vision Care, LLC has agreed to a settlement of $143,336.00 following allegations of violating the Maryland False Health Claims Act. The settlement addresses claims that the company billed Medicaid for nonexistent vision services.
Aqua Vision Care, situated on Reisterstown Road in Pikesville, was found to have billed Medicaid multiple times within a month for eye exams on the same recipients, despite regulations that limit coverage to one optometric examination per year for recipients under 21, and one every two years for those 21 and older.
Dr. Kelechi Mezu Nnabue, a licensed optometrist at Aqua Vision, certified that the billed services were provided and medically necessary. The settlement amount includes $71,668.00 for the unprovided services and an equal amount as a civil penalty.
The case was handled by the Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit. Attorney General Brown expressed his gratitude towards Assistant Attorney General Catherine Schuster Pascale, Senior Investigators Gordon Carew and Shannon Beatty, and Senior Fraud Analyst Todd Sheffer for their diligence.
Funding for the Medicaid Fraud and Vulnerable Victims Unit is primarily provided by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant, which constitutes 75 percent of its budget, amounting to $6,845,828 for the fiscal year 2025. The State of Maryland funds the remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,281,939.
