New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a settlement with Fidelis Care (Fidelis) for causing vulnerable Medicaid patients in Central New York to receive treatment at a company owned by a social worker who had previously lost his license after being convicted of a crime. Fidelis billed Medicaid for services provided by Cornerstone Herkimer, LLC (“Cornerstone”), even though the company’s sole owner and director, Licensed Clinical Social Worker Ward Halverson, had been excluded from the Medicaid Program. Halverson was banned from being a Medicaid provider in 2017 after being convicted of a misdemeanor for firing a BB gun at a child. Under the settlement, Fidelis will pay back more than $7.6 million in reimbursements to the Medicaid program. Fidelis also agreed to perform systematic status checks of those it contracts with against federal and state lists of providers excluded from Medicaid, and terminate any prohibited relationships identified during its reviews.
