Point Clare medical practice manager Claudia Natasha Jeffrey, 30, defrauded Medicare

A Central Coast GP manager with a shocking gambling problem funnelled almost $50,000 into online betting accounts and withdrew nearly $170,000 more to chase her losses, a court heard.

A Central Coast woman skimmed more than $338,000 in Medicare benefits using the provider numbers of two Sydney doctors she worked for to fund her gambling addiction, a court has heard.

Claudia Natasha Jeffrey, of Point Clare, faced Gosford District Court on Friday where she was arraigned and pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

An agreed set of facts states the 30-year-old was employed by a labour hire company to provide practice manager services to a Sydney doctor in 2015 before going on to work for him directly.

The GP had rooms at Cronulla, Woonona, Goulburn and Pyrmont and in 2016 entered into an agreement with another GP to allow her to use his rooms and admin services, including Jeffrey.

“It is alleged that between about June 5, 2017 and about May 11, 2021 the offender fraudulently claimed 884 services using [the doctors’] provider numbers,” the facts state.

“(This) equated to $338,789.50 of Medicare benefits claimed by the offender in respect of services which were not rendered.”

Claudia Natasha Jeffrey (blonde), 30, of Point Clare, leaving Gosford District Court with a supporter after pleading guilty to defrauding Medicare $338,000 by using a doctor's provider number to bill the government for bogus appointments. Picture: NewsLocal

The facts state Jeffrey’s fraud only came to light after a routine audit in 2021 linked her Point Clare address to the offences and discovered the money was being paid directly into her bank account.

The reason for the bogus appointments was often listed as “malignant melanoma, carcinoma, or definitive surgical excision”.

Woonona Medical Centre where Claudia Natasha Jeffrey worked as a practice manager and defrauded Medicare benefits using her boss' provider number. Picture: Google

In May 2021 the Department of Health and Aged Care, which administered the Medicare payments, sent Jeffrey’s medical centre a letter asking why it had made so many claims for melanoma and biopsies but never sent any accompanying specimens to pathology.

Jeffrey opened the letter and called her boss to confess.

“The offender then made admissions to [the doctor] about what she had been doing in terms of fraud she had been engaging in, while in his employment, in that she had been making false claims for Medicare benefits using [his] provider number,” the facts state.

She told the doctor “I have been making claims from Medicare” and words to the effect “I claimed the Medicare benefits due to a gambling addiction”.

The doctor immediately reported it to Glebe police station and sacked her.

The facts state her bank records showed she spent $47,619 on “gambling” in addition to significant debit payments to a Sportsbet account and withdrew a further $168,248.30 in cash from ATMs.

Jeffrey was adjourned to face a sentencing hearing on September 24.