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Posted at 3:32 p.m., Friday, October 5, 2007

Hawaii renews Medicaid charges against dentist

By LILA FUJIMOTO
The Maui News

WAILUKU — A Wailuku dentist who has worked to provide services to poor patients is facing a new indictment on charges of medical assistance fraud, The Maui News reported.

After having similar charges dismissed earlier this year, Dr. Wendie Schwab was arraigned Thursday in 2nd Circuit Court on 28 counts of medical assistance fraud.

She entered not-guilty pleas, with her attorney David Sereno saying Schwab again would fight the charges, this time as she also battles breast cancer.

"My client and I continue the fight to prove that she is, in fact, innocent of all the charges," Sereno said. "We intend to file motions to dismiss and proceed to trial if necessary to vindicate her of these unwarranted char-ges."

The charges cover claims filed from May to September 2003, alleging that false statements or misrepresentations were submitted to obtain greater Medicaid compensation than legally allowed. The alleged improprieties weren't discovered before April 13, 2005, according to the indictment.

A conviction for medical assistance fraud carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

A Jan. 7 trial was scheduled for Schwab.

The 54-year-old Wailuku resident, whose hair is growing back after chemotherapy and radiation treatments, is recovering after being diagnosed with breast cancer this summer, Sereno said.

Because the radiation treatment weakened her bones, she also suffered a broken rib, Sereno said.

"It's difficult for her, coming off the treatment and still battling cancer," he said. "We're grateful it's not in the middle of her chemotherapy."

Schwab has taken a temporary break from her dental practice while undergoing treatment and tending to her health, Sereno said.

"We hope she will be able to go back to what she does – which is helping the poor – as soon as she feels a little better," he said. "Now it's a matter of taking care of her health."

Schwab remains free on $37,000 bail she had posted in her earlier case, which was dismissed March 22. At the time, 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza set a 90-day deadline for the state to reindict Schwab.

The judge dismissed the 36 counts of medical assistance fraud in the earlier case, finding that a presentation to a Maui County grand jury that indicted Schwab wasn't fair and impartial.

The charges in the dismissed case covered claims from May 2003 to August 2004.

The new charges cover a shorter period, with some dates that are different from the earlier indictment.

Sereno said he had requested a transcript of grand jury proceedings to obtain more information about the new charges.

Schwab has been an advocate for Medicaid patients and a critic of the program's severe limits on services for uninsured people.

She helped set up an oral health care program with the Native Hawaiian health organization Hui No Ke Ola Pono to provide services for uninsured and Medicaid patients. She also held dental clinics in schools for youngsters whose parents didn't have dental insurance.

For more Maui news, visit The Maui News.