OGCC Behavioral Health Services, Inc. (“OGCC”) and its owner and Executive Director, Dionne Huffman, have agreed to pay $750,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by, among other things, billing the government for services that they did not provide or were not provided in the way that OGCC said that they were. OGCC is a CORE Services Provider for the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities. CORE providers are supposed to offer services to individuals who are experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties, mental health problems, or addiction.
The government alleges that, between 2014 and 2016, OGCC falsified the identity and qualifications of the healthcare providers to receive reimbursement at a higher rate, inflated the amount of time spent with patients, submitted claims for patient visits that never occurred, misrepresented dates of service, and fabricated documents in response to government scrutiny. The settlement resolves allegations in a lawsuit filed by Latashia Hawkins, a former OGCC employee, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which authorizes private parties to sue for false claims on behalf of the United States and share in the recovery. The lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Georgia and is captioned United States and State of Georgia ex rel. Hawkins v. OGCC Behavioral Health Services, Inc., No. 1:15-cv-4380.
