Press Releases
04/18/2023
Attorney General Tong Announces $243K False Claims Settlement with Behavioral Health Provider K-Assist
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong and U.S. Attorney Vanessa Avery today announced a $234, 064.89 settlement with Kelly Stutzman and her company K-Assist, resolving allegations that the behavioral health provider violated the federal and state False Claims Acts. In additional to this civil settlement, Stutzman has also been criminally prosecuted by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Connecticut Chief State’s Attorney’s Office.“Kelly Stutzman and her company K-Assist repeatedly billed the Connecticut Medicaid program for thousands of hours of services she claimed to have provided but were instead provided by unlicensed individuals. In addition to the civil settlement, she also pled nolo contendre to a criminal charge related to her participation in the Medicaid program. In conjunction with our state and federal partners, we will act aggressively to ensure our Medicaid dollars are used appropriately for the benefit of Connecticut patients,” said Attorney General Tong.
“Defrauding the Medicaid program is a serious offense and we applaud the work of the Attorney General’s Office in aggressively addressing wrongdoing in the Connecticut Medicaid Program. We appreciate the Attorney General’s efforts to assure the integrity of the Connecticut Medicaid Program, making sure that its resources are used to support Connecticut’s residents and not to enrich those who seek to abuse the system,” said Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner-designate Andrea Barton Reeves.
Acting on a referral received by DSS, the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General, the Connecticut Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the federal Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General each opened an investigation into allegations that K-Assist was knowingly billing the Connecticut Medicaid Program for services provided by unlicensed individuals.
The investigations uncovered evidence of repeated billing for excessive services, including hundreds of dates where more than 12 hours of behavioral health services were allegedly provided by Stutzman in a single day. Through extensive interviews and document review, the investigation developed evidence that K-Assist routinely relied on unlicensed individuals to provide services, while billing the Connecticut Medicaid Program as though those services had been provided by licensed behavioral health clinicians. Behavioral health services provided by unlicensed individuals are not reimbursable through the Connecticut Medicaid Program.
Attorney General Tong thanked the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General/Office of Investigations, the Office of the United States Attorney, the Connecticut Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the DSS Office of Quality Assurance for their coordination in this case.
Assistant Attorney General Joshua Jackson and Legal Investigator Peter Harrington, under the supervision of Gregory K. O'Connell, Chief of the Government Program Fraud Section, assisted the Attorney General in this matter.
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Media Contact:
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