The former owner of Hutto Limb and Brace, LaGrange, Georgia, has been sentenced by the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia for defrauding the U.S. government and ordered to repay $86,000. Christie Morgan (formerly Christie Hutto), continued to file Medicare and Georgia Medicaid claims after her former husband, the company’s only licensed practitioner, left the company. Medicare and Georgia Medicaid require that O&P services be provided under the direct supervision of a licensed orthotist or prosthetist.
Morgan operated the business from April 2012 through November 2012 without a licensed orthotist or prosthetist, submitting claims totaling $172,000. She was sentenced to pay $86,000 in restitution, the amount that had been reimbursed, and to serve three years of probation.