Office of the Attorney General
Corbin Dentist Indicted for Engaging in a Scheme to Defraud Medicaid

Attorney General Jack Conway today announced the indictment of a Kentucky dentist on seven counts of engaging in a scheme to defraud the Kentucky Medicaid Program. On December 14, 2009, the Whitley County grand jury returned the indictment charging Ronald Hungerbuhler, a dentist from Corbin, in Whitley County, with seven counts of devising or engaging in a scheme to defraud the Kentucky Medical Assistance Program valued at $300 or more. The charge is a class D felony that carries a sentence of one to five years in prison and a fine of $1000 to $10,000 for each count.

The indictment alleges that each January, beginning in 2003, Hungerbuhler billed for services he did not render by submitting fictitious and fraudulent claims valued at $300 or more. It is alleged that Hungerbuhler received a list of Medicaid recipients residing at Christian Health Care Nursing Home in Corbin and billed for oral exams on each individual without performing the exams.

Investigators and prosecutors from General Conway’s Office of Medicaid Fraud and Abuse Control investigated and are handling the prosecution of the case. Arraignment is set for January 4, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. in Whitley Circuit Court, division one. A summons will be issued for Hungerbuhler to appear at that time.

A charge is merely an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.