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Massachusetts firm settles fraud charges with state, feds for $960,000

Compliance Monitor, December 29, 2004

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Columbia Hospital Corporation of Massachusetts has agreed to pay $960,000 to settle civil claims that it overbilled the state's Medicaid program by exaggerating the disability levels of dozens of developmentally disabled clients between 1996 and 1999, according to a December 15 press release from Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly and U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan.

According to the release, Columbia will pay $400,000 each to Massachusetts and the U.S. government. The remaining $160,000 will go to the whistleblower who triggered the investigation.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office is committed to using every legal tool at our disposal to assure the protection of the resources of the Medicare Trust Fund, state Medicaid programs, and other government health programs," Sullivan said. "We will hold accountable all companies and individuals that steal from taxpayers."

Reilly's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit began investigating the allegations in this case in 1998. According to the release, the allegations stem from fraudulent behavior at Columbia's MetroWest Day Habilitation Program in Ashland, MA.

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