<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=29MYoX_1H73yp7W00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=29MYoX_1H73yp7W00" width="960" height="540" ></figure>ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG ANNOUNCES FALSE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT WITH OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today announced a $2,366,269.94 settlement with Therapy Unlimited, LLC and its owner Catherine Risigo Wickline, resolving allegations of overbilling in violation of the Connecticut False Claims Act.From at least 2014, Therapy Unlimited provided both occupational and physical therapy primarily to children at its Watertown, Connecticut office. Wickline was an occupational therapist licensed in Connecticut. In 2019, the Office of the Attorney General sued Wickline and Therapy Unlimited, following an investigation that showed thousands of inflated false claims to the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program between January 2014 and July 2019. The investigation found evidence that Therapy Unlimited routinely billed for up to two and a half hours of therapy where only 30 to 45 minutes of therapy was provided. Nearly all claims were billed with Wickline as the performing provider, including allegedly in instances where a lower-level provider or unlicensed provider had performed the services.In 2021, the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit charged Wickline with larceny and healthcare fraud based on the same fraudulent scheme. The civil lawsuit was stayed during the pendency of the state criminal case. In 2024, Wickline was convicted of larceny in the first degree for defrauding a public community, a Class B felony, and health insurance fraud, a Class B felony, following her guilty plea under the Alford doctrine. The court sentenced Wickline to eight years’ imprisonment, execution suspended, with probation for five years, and ordered her to pay criminal restitution of $1,932,570. Based upon her criminal conviction, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General excluded Wickline from participating as a provider in government health programs including Medicare and Medicaid.The civil settlement requires Therapy Unlimited and Wickline to forfeit $433,700 in suspended Medicaid payments in addition to paying the criminal restitution of $1,932,570.“Fraudulent billing wastes taxpayer dollars and undermines trust in our vital public healthcare programs. In coordination with our state and federal law enforcement partners, we will continue to use the full weight of our authority to stop fraud and abuse,” said Attorney General Tong.Anyone with knowledge of suspected fraud or abuse in the public healthcare system is asked to contact the Attorney General’s Government Program Fraud Section at 860-808-5040 or by email at ag.fraud@ct.gov; or the Department of Social Services fraud reporting hotline at 1-800-842-2155, online at www.ct.gov/dss/reportingfraud, or by email to providerfraud.dss@ct.gov.Assistant Attorney General Eric Babbs, retired Assistant Attorney General Richard Porter, retired Legal Investigator Peter Harrington, and Deputy Associate Attorney General Gregory O’Connell, Chief of the Government Fraud Section, assisted the Attorney General in this matter.</div></body>

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ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG ANNOUNCES FALSE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT WITH OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE. (Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today announced a $2,366,269.94 settlement with Therapy Unlimited, LLC and its owner Catherine Risigo Wickline, resolving allegations of overbilling in violation of the Connecticut False Claims Act. From at least 2014,...

SETTLEMENT WITH OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE

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ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG ANNOUNCES FALSE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT WITH OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE. (Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today announced 

SETTLEMENT WITH OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE

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