An Oklahoma City woman has entered a guilty plea for committing health care fraud, the ramifications of which are reverberating through the state’s health care system. Natasha Allmon, 48, faced charges after a period of prolonged deceit where she submitted or caused to be submitted false claims to Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS), as detailed in a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma. Her plea on August 15 signals an end to her fraudulent activities that spanned nearly three years.
Beginning in January 2021 and continuing until December 2023, Allmon, who was a behavioral health counselor, colluded with the health insurance provider Blue Cross Blue Shield to deliver counseling services. Public records unveiled the staggering scope of the fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Allmon routinely billed BCBS for sixty-minute psychiatric treatment sessions for family members, sessions that were claimed to have occurred nearly every day, and beyond the bounds of temporal possibility, often exceeding 24 hours of treatment within a single day. Allmon improperly filed claims that amounted to approximately $1.4 million, and she pocketed nearly $1.1 million from these claims.
The egregiousness of the fraud was not only in its scale but also in its blatant disregard for the limits of credibility. Charged on August 1, Allmon pleaded guilty two weeks later, admitting her knowing participation in a scheme that defrauded a health care benefit program. This admission of guilt brings a chapter of deception to a close while opening a dialogue on oversight and trust within the health care system. Her conviction carries the weight of potential serious consequences, with Allmon facing up to ten years in a federal prison and could be fined up to $250,000, as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office…