Licensed? No. Billing? Yes. Convicted. | Jersey City News

0:00It's September 4th. Welcome in. This is Jersey City News today, where local news meet AI. I'm Cory with the story. So, this owner of a Women's Health Center in Essex County, Esni Davis Sharp, 63 years old, just pleaded guilty. She was running Bessie May Women's Health Center, and the Feds are saying she was performing gynecological procedures herself, even though she's not a licensed doctor. On top of that, she was billing insurance companies, including Medicaid, for these services, claiming licensed physicians did the work. This whole operation went down for a few years, from December of 2020 up until February of 2024. Prosecutors say they submitted over 2,500 fraudulent claims. They even used the names of two doctors without their knowledge or permission to make it look legit. The clinic itself got shut down earlier this year by the State Department of Health. Davis Sharp is looking at a sentence of four years' probation, but she'll have to serve 180 days in jail first. She's also banned from owning or running any medical facility ever again.

1:05Her lawyer hasn't said much, just that he supports his client. The charges she pleaded guilty to are pretty serious. Second degree health care claims, fraud. Third degree Medicaid fraud, and third degree unlicensed. Practice of medicine. It's a tough situation for the patients who thought they were getting care from qualified professionals. And it wasn't just her, an employee, Natalia LuShok, who was apparently a medical student, was also indicted. She's accused of providing gynecological services without a New Jersey medical license, too. Sentencing for Davis Sharp is set for next month.