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ButteNews
August 2, 2024
Photo Info: US attorney Jesse Laslovich, photo by Jim Larson
MISSOULA — A former nurse practitioner in Butte admitted on Thursday to prescribing controlled substances despite having a suspended license and to falsely billing an insurance company approximately $61 million for vitamin B-12 injections in which she received nearly $600,000 for the false claims, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said today.
The defendant, Tristan Ashley Svejkovsky, 40, pleaded guilty to health care fraud and to use of a registration number issued to another person. Svejkovsky faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release on the health care fraud charge and a maximum of four years in prison, a $250,000 fine and one year of supervised release on the charge of using the registration of another person.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto presided. Sentencing was set for Dec. 12 before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Svejkovsky was released pending further proceedings.
The government alleged in court documents that Svejkovsky was a nurse practitioner whose license was suspended by the Montana Board of Nursing on April 1, 2022. Svejkovsky continued to prescribe controlled substances using her own name and Drug Enforcement Administration registration number until June 8, 2022. The DEA contacted Svejkovsky through her attorney, and she agreed to voluntarily surrender her DEA registration. However, Svejkovsky continued to prescribe controlled substances using the name and DEA registration number of a friend who also was nurse practitioner. Svejkovsky misrepresented to her friend that her nursing license was on probation, not suspended, and that she would not use her friend’s information to prescribe drugs. In fact, Svejkovsky used her friend’s name and DEA registration number for at least 12 prescriptions of controlled substances.
The government further alleged that Svejkovsky billed Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana for vitamin B-12 injections that did not occur. In August 2021, Svejkovsky started falsely increasing the number of units of a standard vitamin B-12 injection from one unit to 1,000 units. This increased the corresponding payment from the insurance company for each injection from roughly $4.88 to $4,880. After her license was suspended, Svejkovsky started submitting numerous such claims each month to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana by backdating claims to supposedly before her license was suspended. This conduct continued through May 2022, when Svejkovsky submitted four claims, this time claiming $15 million per vitamin B-12 injection to a new patient. Svejkovsky never gave that patient any vitamin injections, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana did not pay those claims. In total, Svejkovsky billed the insurance company at least $61,995,000 for false vitamin B-12 injections and received at least $593,583 from those false claims.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case. The DEA and FBI conducted the investigation.
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PNS - Friday, August 2, 2024 - VP Kamala Harris and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance respond to former President Donald Trump's comments on her race. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershcovich is freed from Russian prison. And U.S. Senate takes on a bill to regulate AI.
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PNS - Friday, August 2, 2024 - Report: Violent crime rates continue to fall from pandemic heights; Biden, Trump exchange jabs as Russia prisoner swap turns political; ME poll workers get a close-up view of 'democracy in action'; Reopened PA juvenile center provides trauma-informed care.
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By Mark Moran - Producer-Editor, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - Despite making up only 10% of the state's population, Montana's Indigenous youth comprise more than a third of all kids in the child foster care system. Experts say systemic cultural problems and a lack of resources have made a solution hard to find. Comments from Deana (DEEN-uh) Around Him, Indigenous children, youth and families researcher at Child Trends, and citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Click on the image above for the audio. - Native American children make up more than a third of the foster care caseload in Montana, despite representing less than 10% of the state's child population, according to a data analysis by the Montana Free Press. (Adobe Stock)
Mark Moran
August 1, 2024 - New research shows Indigenous youth comprise more than a third of the children in Montana's foster care system, despite making up a far smaller segment of the state's overall population.
Researchers said addressing the problem is challenging. Data from the National Center for Juvenile Justice show the number of Indigenous youth comprise 30% of the children in foster care, despite making up just 10% of the Montana population.
Deana Around Him, Indigenous children, youth and families researcher for the organization Child Trends and citizen of the Cherokee Nation, said a combination of factors is driving the disparity, but it often comes down to a lack of child oversight.
"Child neglect can lead a family to be engaged with the child welfare system and result in a child being removed from a home," Around Him explained. "We wonder if that is more of a question about the resources available to families and if the solution should be different than removal."
Around Him acknowledged solutions have been hard to achieve in Montana but researchers are exploring kinship and other family-based support systems that have shown hints of success in the past. A 10-year data analysis by the Montana Free Press showed Native children are placed in foster care at roughly five times the rate of white children.
The Juvenile Justice data showed Native American children in Montana far outpace any other racial group in the child welfare system. Around Him noted in addition to family-based solutions, making resources available to struggling families is also important so they can make what would seem like easy decisions.
"Getting a job may not be so simple as like 'yes, take the job'" Around Him asserted. "Because it offers greater income for your family but if taking that job requires you to find child care, and if there's limited child care available in the community, who are you leaving our child with?"
There has been a national effort in recent years to keep children in their home when it's safe to do so but despite those efforts, the number of Indigenous children in the Montana foster care system has continued to grow.
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