AG Tong Announces Settlement With Connecticut Dependancy Medicine

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Attorney General William Tong

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06/25/2021

Lawyer Standard Tong Announces $1 Million Settlement With Connecticut Habit Medicine Above Extreme Billing

(Hartford, CT) – Lawyer General William Tong introduced these days a $1,002,481 settlement with Connecticut Habit Medication and its principals Jay Benson, M.D. and Mahboob Aslam, M.D. resolving allegations of too much billing for urine drug checks.

Connecticut Habit Medicine is a health-related follow that supplies behavioral well being and habit medication products and services. It has workplaces in Hartford, Rocky Hill, and supplemental spots elsewhere in Connecticut.

A joint investigation by the Business office of the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney’s Place of work and the U.S. Department of Wellness and Human Expert services Workplace of the Inspector Normal, after referral by Connecticut Department of Social Providers (DSS) excellent assurance investigators, observed that amongst December 2015 and August 2017, Connecticut Addiction Drugs charged and was compensated by the Connecticut Health-related Aid Application and Medicare for medically unwanted urine drug tests. The investigation concentrated on two forms of urine drug testing—a “screen” test done in place of work that gives speedy but a lot less detailed effects, as properly as a “confirmation” test which is a extra superior exam that is carried out by an offsite laboratory. A display screen examination ought to be followed by a confirmation exam only when a experienced health care company decides the additional take a look at is medically necessary dependent upon the particular person patient’s presentation and historical past. Through the time period in concern, Connecticut Addiction Medication billed the federal and point out governments for in-business display checks even though at the exact same time it routinely requested and acquired the far more innovative confirmation assessments from an impartial lab for each individual individual, for every sample. The investigation identified that a big amount of the in-office environment display tests was redundant and not medically essential due to the fact the far more highly developed confirmation check effects were out there to Connecticut Addition Drugs at the time of the patient’s treatment.

“Connecticut Habit Medicine performed unnecessary, redundant assessments, resulting in too much billing that supplied no significant benefit to their patients. Alongside with our federal and condition associates, the Office environment of the Lawyer Basic will act aggressively to protect public funds and the integrity of our community health care applications,” mentioned Legal professional Basic Tong.

“This settlement returns just around $1 million to the state and federal governments, and underscores the actuality that sturdy oversight is required to safeguard the Medicaid system from aberrant billing and promises. We thank the Attorney Typical and his staff, the U.S. Attorney’s Business office, the Section of Health and Human Providers Business of the Inspector General, and DSS top quality assurance investigators for their exceptional operate on this situation,” claimed DSS Commissioner Deidre S. Gifford.

Anyone with knowledge of suspected fraud or abuse in the general public healthcare system is questioned to make contact with the Attorney General’s Antitrust and Government Software Fraud Section at 860-808-5040 or by email at ag.fraud@ct.gov the Medicaid Fraud Handle Unit at 860-258-5986 or by electronic mail at conndcj@ct.gov or the Office of Social Products and services fraud reporting hotline at 1-800-842-2155, on line at www.ct.gov/dss/reportingfraud, or by e-mail to providerfraud.dss@ct.gov.

Forensic Fraud Examiner Lisa Bailey, previous Forensic Fraud Examiner Lawrence Marini, and Assistant Lawyers Typical Gregory O’Connell, Karla Turekian, and Jeremy Pearlman, Chief of the Antitrust and Governing administration Method Fraud Part assisted the Attorney Normal in this issue.

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Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

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Fb: CT Lawyer Normal

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Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

Consumer Inquiries:

860-808-5318
attorney.typical@ct.gov