Ballwin woman sentenced in Medicare fraud

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis County business owner has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution for bank and Medicare fraud.

Tina Kuehl of Ballwin was sentenced Monday in federal court in St. Louis. She previously pleaded guilty to felony bank and health-care fraud as well as three counts of making false statements.

Federal prosecutors say Kuehl oversaw an organized effort at her home health business, Better Way Home Care of Ellisville, to defraud the federal insurance program by inflating the number of patient therapy visits eligible for reimbursement and submitting false diagnostic codes.

The bank fraud involved a foreclosed $305,000 property loan from a Maries County bank. Kuehl then submitted fraudulent checks in an attempt to keep the home.