By Journal Staff

LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced that Medicaid fraud charges have been filed against Nicole Stouffer, 42, of Rock. The criminal complaint charges a total of nine counts, all 4-year felonies.

The charges stem from an investigation into a complaint that Stouffer had committed fraud using the Medicaid program. Stouffer was approved by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to receive home help services in July 2021.

Under the program, Stouffer was allowed to pick her own provider for these services, and she selected a family member. Logs purportedly verifying the home help work and the dates worked from November 2021 through August were submitted to DHHS. Approximately $8,000 was paid for the home help services.

In November, the family member allegedly providing Stouffer’s home help services made a complaint to the Office of the Attorney General. The alleged home help provider denied having agreed to serve as home help provider and further denied providing any of the services resulting in payment.

“Programs like the Home Help Program are funded to provide critical assistance to permit people to live at home, where they are most comfortable, rather than move them into an expensive, long-term care facility,” Nessel said in a statement. “Exploiting this program is particularly troubling, and we take it very seriously.”

Stouffer was arraigned Tuesday before Magistrate Jean Healy in the 94th District Court and given a $50,000 cash or surety bond. She is next due in court at 9:45 a.m. July 6 for a pre-exam conference, ahead of a preliminary exam scheduled for July 13.

The attorney general’s Health Care Fraud Division handled this case for the department. The HCFD is the federally certified Medicaid fraud control unit for Michigan, and it receives 75% of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $5,196,188 for the fiscal year 2023. The remaining 25% percent, totaling $1,732,061, is funded by the state of Michigan.