Murfreesboro dentist Dr. Richard "Nate" Schott, 51, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and Kendra L. Glenn, 43, of Hartwell, Georgia, and formerly of Murfreesboro, are facing federal healthcare fraud charges for operating a scheme to defraud healthcare benefit programs, announced U.S. Attorney Don Cochran for the Middle District of Tennessee. 

Schott, who serves on the Rutherford County Industrial Development Board and formerly served as the head of the Rutherford County Republican Party, surrendered to U.S. Marshals in Nashville last week and Glenn was arrested at her home in Georgia this morning by FBI agents. 

Schott is charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and Glenn is facing seven counts of healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy.

The Accusations

According to the charging documents, Schott is a licensed dentist who owns and operates Dental Excellence, a dental practice with three locations in Murfreesboro and one location in Lebanon, Tennessee.  Kendra Glenn was employed by Dental Excellence and served as the Practice Administrator.

The charging documents allege that between November 2013 and January 2018, Schott and Glenn caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims to healthcare benefit programs, including Delta Dental, Cigna, TennCare and DentaQuest, TennCare’s dental benefits program administrator. 

The fraudulent claims included billing for dental work that had not been completed or performed at all; falsifying dates of service to appear to comply with benefit programs’ timeframe and preauthorization requirements; falsifying claims to appear that services had been rendered by a benefits program credentialed dentist; falsifying supporting documents and adding false narratives to support the upcoding of claims; and others, including continuing to submit false claims after being advised by insurance companies that audits had determined a pattern of false claims and that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was conducting a criminal investigation into the company’s billing practices. 

The charges further allege that Schott and Glenn took steps to conceal the fraud by discouraging employees from questioning billing practices; instructing employees to lie if questioned by insurance companies; and disciplining and even firing employees who questioned the legality of the billing practices. 

The allegations also include that Schott and Glenn used the proceeds from the fraudulent scheme for their own personal use and that Glenn was paid bonuses based on the amount of money collected from the fraudulent scheme.

If convicted, Schott and Glenn face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn W. Booth and Byron Jones.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.