A New London psychiatrist and his medical practice have agreed to pay $3,382,004 to settle allegations of Medicaid fraud.
Dr. Bassam Awwa, the owner of Connecticut Behavioral Health Associates, P.C. (CBHA), a medical practice located in New London, allegedly submitted false claims to the Medicare program for multiple units of urine drug screening tests, when only one unit of service could be billed per patient encounter.
The government alleges that AWWA and CBHA also submitted claims to Medicare for alcohol tests conducted on patient urine samples that they knew or should have known were a component of the urine drug screening test for which AWWA and CBHA were already being paid by Medicare.
In addition, the government alleges that AWWA and CBHA defrauded the Connecticut Medicaid program by submitting claims for definitive urine drug tests that were not actually performed, and by improperly submitting claims to Medicaid for specimen validity testing of urine samples.
To resolve the governments’ allegations under the federal and state False Claims Acts, AWWA and CBHA have agreed to pay $3,382,004, which covers claims submitted to the Medicare program from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2015, and claims submitted to the Medicaid program from April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2016.
As part of the settlement, AWWA and CBHA have entered into a three-year billing Integrity Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that is designed to ensure future compliance with the requirements of federal healthcare programs.
‘It is alleged that, for years, these defendants recklessly overbilled Medicare for drug screening tests,’ said U.S. Attorney John H. Durham.
Key Facts
- State: Connecticut
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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