Attorney General William Tong and US Attorney Vanessa Avery 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. 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.
