As a health care provider, someone who owns or works in a health care-related business or even as an individual, there is always a chance you could be caught up in a health care fraud investigation. There is also a chance you could end up facing criminal charges over it.
This is true even if you did not do what the authorities are claiming you did or if you did do something illegal but never intended to break the law. One question you might have in this situation is whether or not your intentions at the time matter.
Intent is key in fraud cases
You should not be convicted of the crime of fraud if you did not intend to do anything wrong. If they were just honest mistakes rather than an attempt to defraud any individuals or entities, then the case against you should not succeed. This is because the law makes it clear that intent is key to the crime of fraud.
This does not guarantee that the prosecution won’t succeed, though. Prosecutors often push very hard to get a conviction, and just denying the allegations is not always enough to win your case. You’ll likely need to present evidence to back up your claims that it was all a big mistake or misunderstanding or that you never actually did those things.
Charges of health care fraud are serious, so if you find yourself under investigation, it is in your best interests to seek experienced legal guidance to learn more about the defense options you may have available. While it is technically up to the prosecution to prove someone’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, defendants and their representatives typically need to work just as hard, or harder, to prove those accusations are wrong.
