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Connecticut Counseling Centers (CCC), which operates methadone clinics in Danbury and throughout Connecticut, will pay the state and federal government $295,211 in a settlement involving overpaying for drug testing, U.S. Attorney John Durham announced.
According to Durham, CCC is a healthcare organization that provides outpatient substance abuse and mental health services in Connecticut, with clinics located in Fairfield and New Haven counties.
An investigation into CCC found that between Jan. 18, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2016, CCC used an independent laboratory that separately billed the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program for urine drug testing, which resulted in double bills for testing. CCC was receiving its bundled payment from Medicaid, and the lab was filing separate bills with the state.
“Providers who bill government health insurance programs, such as Medicaid, must follow the rules, and the failure to do so will have serious consequences,” Durham said in a statement.
"CCC understood that their reimbursement from the CMAP included drug testing," Attorney General William Tong added. "By outsourcing this work, they in effect caused the CMAP to pay twice for the same service. Jointly with our federal and state partners, the Office of the Attorney General will take aggressive action to protect our publicly funded healthcare programs."
Social Services Commissioner Deidre Gifford said that, ”drug testing is an integral part of the treatment process and bundled payments are intended to help providers focus on the delivery of that treatment. “This case of double billing does not represent Medicaid-enrolled providers as a whole, but shows why we need strong and continuous enforcement of claiming standards on behalf of enrollees and taxpayers.”
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