Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Jessica Stuart, 38, of Fairfield, waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and identity theft offenses. According to court documents and statements made in court, Stuart was employed by Helping Hands Academy, LLC, in Bridgeport, which provided applied behavior analysis services to children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Helping Hands Academy enrolled as a participating provider in the Connecticut Medicaid Program (“Medicaid”) in approximately September 2018. Medicaid requires that ASD treatment services be provided under the supervision of a licensed medical practitioner or a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), a graduate-level certification in behavior analysis. BCBAs are also required to be credentialed in writing by the state. Stuart does not have a college degree, was not a BCBA or licensed medical practitioner, and did not have any formal training in applied behavior analysis for ASD.
Between approximately May 2019 and September 2020, Helping Hands Academy paid Stuart at least $143,0000 and submitted to Medicaid numerous fraudulent claims for applied behavioral analysis services that Stuart performed but was not qualified to provide. Stuart used the name of an individual without the individual’s knowledge or authorization so that Stuart could impersonate a BCBA when she knew she was not a BCBA. Medicaid suffered a loss of $369,439.96 as a result of Stuart’s conduct.
