Psychologists charged in $25 million Medicare fraud scheme

Two clinical psychologists were charged today with billing Medicare for more than $25 million in fraudulent psychological testing to nursing home residents.

Beverly Stubblefield, PhD, and John Teal, PhD, were charged with conspiring to commit health care fraud and conspiring to make false statements related to healthcare matters. Two other defendants, Rodney Hesson, PsyD, and Gertrude Parker, were charged in the initial indictment in June 2015 in connection with a large-scale Medicare fraud takedown and were also charged in today’s indictment.

Hesson and Parker owned and controlled Nursing Home Psychological Service (NHPS) and Psychological Care Services (PCS), which have facilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama. According to the indictment, the NHPS and PCS allegedly contracted with nursing homes in those states. NHPS and PCS clinical psychologists, including Stubblefield, Teal, and Hesson, allegedly submitted false claims for psychological tests and related services to nursing home residents that were unnecessary and, in some cases, never provided.

NHPS and PCS submitted $25.2 million in claims to Medicare between 2009 and 2015, according to the indictment. Medicare paid about $17 million on those claims.

The FBI and Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General are investigating the case. The case was brought about as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Read more here.


Topics: Medicare/Medicaid