Neri Maria Blanco-Cuevas, a longtime Las Vegas physician, pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud. She also admitted obtaining and using an older person's personal identifying information for an unlawful purpose, according to 8 News Now.
KLAS 8 News Now reported that court documents describe false billing from February 2019 through December 2023, using the names and personal information of Medicaid recipients age 60 or older. Claims were submitted to Medicaid and Medicare for services said to have taken place in China, Mexico, France, Dubai, England, Tahiti, Canada, Germany, Colombia and Iceland. Investigators said Blanco-Cuevas was outside the country when the services were purportedly provided.
Plea Deal Spares Prison Time, Demands Restitution
The plea agreement says Nevada Attorney General's Office prosecutors will not seek prison time, 8 News Now reported. The parties jointly recommend a suspended sentence of 12 to 36 months in the Nevada Department of Corrections, 30 days in jail and 210 days of house arrest, with several hours each day permitted outside the home. The agreement also requires Blanco-Cuevas to pay more than $681,000 in restitution and costs. Her sentencing in Clark County District Court is scheduled for October 29.
Earlier Medical-Board Cases
The fraud case comes amid a record of medical-board matters and malpractice settlements reported by KLAS. The station reported three settlements involving patient deaths: $300,000 in a 2008 case alleging improper treatment of bile peritonitis, which led to sepsis, multiple-system failure and death; $200,000 in 2014 over an alleged delay in abdominal surgery that led to bowel perforation and death; and $75,000 in 2015 over alleged failure to control bleeding during or after surgery, also resulting in death. These were settlements of malpractice matters, not findings in the Medicaid fraud case.
KLAS also reported two 2008 settlements: $25,000 in a case involving a foreign body left during abdominal surgery that required another operation, and, in 2012, $25,000 over failure to recognize a complication and $560,000 over alleged surgical-management failures involving bile-duct stones, pancreatitis and an unstable patient.
A Board Record on an Earlier Complaint
KLAS described a board matter concerning a 2007 operation on a 54-year-old woman. The allegations included use of an inappropriate stent, failure to place proper tubing and drainage devices, and failure to obtain a postoperative X-ray to check the stent's position. The patient returned to the hospital five days later with abdominal pain after the stent migrated and obstructed her bile duct, the station reported.
In a 2012 agreement, the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners addressed an allegation that Blanco-Cuevas failed to use the reasonable care, skill or knowledge ordinarily used under the circumstances. The agreement states she accepted there was sufficient evidence that her conduct may have been grounds for discipline.
Another board matter concerned a 2015 hand operation on a 64-year-old patient that Blanco-Cuevas left unfinished, requiring another surgery, according to KLAS. The board initially charged her with malpractice, practicing beyond her license's scope and failing to maintain complete medical records. In 2019, she agreed to four hours of continuing medical education, received a public letter of reprimand, and agreed to pay nearly $2,400 in case costs and a $1,000 fine. She also admitted she had not maintained timely, legible, accurate and complete records.
License Surrendered This Year
As noted by 8 News Now, Blanco-Cuevas surrendered her medical license on June 12, per the Nevada medical board, giving up her ability to practice in the state for 10 years. 8 News Now Investigators reported that they contacted both the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners and Blanco-Cuevas's attorney while reporting the story.
Statewide Fraud-Control Figures
Nevada’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit reported 262 cases opened and $13.4 million in recoveries from fiscal years 2009 through 2011, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General review. A separate review by the Office of Inspector General found the unit reported $11.7 million in total recoveries for fiscal years 2015 through 2017. These are statewide figures from periods apart from Blanco-Cuevas’s case.
Another Nevada Medicaid Fraud Case
In a separate Las Vegas case, the Nevada Attorney General's Office said Brittany Jackson was sentenced for Medicaid fraud on December 16, 2024. The release identifies the offense and sentencing date but does not provide enough detail to compare the alleged conduct or sentence terms with Blanco-Cuevas's case.
