According to a July 24 news release from the Justice Department, Texas Behavioral Health and United Psychiatry Institute allegedly submitted claims for mental health services physicians did not render or which were not directly supervised by physicians.
Some services occurred when the physicians were traveling and would be unable to provide services, and others were billed for when it was not logistically possible for the physicians to have supervised the services, the Justice Department alleged.
Medicare reimbursed these services provided by nonphysicians practitioners at a higher rate reserved for physicians, according to the news release.
The case was brought by a whistleblower, who will keep a portion of the settlement, the Justice Department said.
