Press Release: 4/2/2025
Worcester-Based Medical Transportation Company And Its Owner Indicted For MassHealth Fraud, Patient Abuse And Neglect, And Money Laundering
Company Alleged to Have Stolen More than $3 Million from MassHealth for Services That Were Never Provided
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
4/01/2025
MEDIA CONTACT
Sabrina Zafar , Deputy Press Secretary
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Call Sabrina Zafar , Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543
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Email Sabrina Zafar , Deputy Press Secretary at Sabrina.Zafar2@mass.gov
BOSTON — The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today announced that the Statewide Grand Jury has returned indictments against Instant Transportation, LLC (Instant), a Worcester-based non-emergency medical transportation company, and its owner, Ardit Islamaj, 36, of Worcester, for allegedly submitting millions of dollars in false claims to MassHealth and its subcontractors for services that were never provided, laundering those fraudulently obtained funds, and abusing and neglecting patients who were MassHealth members.
On March 27, 2025, as a result of charges brought by the AGO, Instant and Islamaj were indicted on 17 total counts, with charges including Medicaid False Claims; Larceny over $1,200; Patient Abuse and Neglect; Identity Fraud; Money Laundering; and Witness Intimidation.
The AGO alleges that between August 2018 and August 2023, Instant knowingly billed MassHealth more than $3 million in transportation services that were never provided, including rides with no corresponding medical visits, rides for patients that were deceased or hospitalized at the time of the claims, and rides for patients who had cancelled their trips. Islamaj allegedly then laundered the fraudulently obtained MassHealth funds.
Additionally, the AGO alleges that Instant Transport and Islamaj committed patient abuse and neglect by allowing illicit drug use and sales to occur during medical transportation, employing drivers who Islamaj knew were accused of sexual assault by patients, and failing to transport wheelchair patients in wheelchair-accessible vans.
The AGO further alleges that Islamaj committed identity fraud by instructing his employees to fraudulently pose as MassHealth members in order to obtain additional MassHealth reimbursed rides. Moreover, the AGO alleges that Islamaj engaged in witness intimidation by paying a former employee thousands of dollars shortly before she attended a meeting at the AGO.
All of the charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
This matter is representative of the AGO’s commitment to combatting MassHealth fraud, including fraud committed by medical transportation companies. In October 2024, the AGO reached a settlement with a Swampscott-based medical transportation company for submitting false claims to MassHealth for services it never provided. In February 2024, the AGO reached a $1.6 million settlement with two North Dartmouth-based medical ambulance companies for submitting false claims to MassHealth for medically unnecessary services and for billing for more expensive services than they actually provided. Similarly, in August 2023, the AGO reached a $2.6 million settlement with a Leominster-based ambulance company, who it alleged submitted false claims to MassHealth for more expensive levels of service than required.
This matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Patrick McCooe, William Champlin IV, and Heidi Gosule, Investigator Kathleen Tansey, Investigations Supervisors Dean Bates and Joe Shea and Senior Healthcare Fraud Investigators Vanessa Asiatidis, William Welsh, and Mirlinda Sejdiu, all of the AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division. MassHealth and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General provided assistance with the investigation.
The AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division is a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, annually certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and prosecute health care providers who defraud the state’s Medicaid program, MassHealth. The Medicaid Fraud Division also has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute complaints of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of residents in long-term care facilities and of Medicaid patients in any health care setting. Individuals may file a MassHealth fraud complaint or report cases of abuse or neglect of Medicaid patients or long-term care residents by visiting the AGO’s website.
The Massachusetts Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $5,922,320 for federal fiscal year 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $1,974,102 for FY 2025, is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.