Source: United States Department of Justice News
Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Phillip Coyne, Special Agent in Charge for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, and Jean Pierre Njock, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that AMVIK SOLUTIONS, LLC (“Amvik”) has entered into a civil settlement agreement with the federal government and has paid $153,300 to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims for payment to the Connecticut Medicaid program for applied behavior analysis (“ABA”) services.
Amvik, based in Birmingham, Alabama, offers billing, claims, and collections services for healthcare providers. Amvik uses its proprietary WebABA software to perform these services for ABA providers throughout the United States. Helping Hands Academy, LLC (“Helping Hands”) was a Bridgeport-based ABA services provider that provided ABA services to children with autism. In 2018, Helping Hands retained Amvik to handle the billing and claims for those ABA services. The government alleges that when submitting claims for payment to Connecticut Medicaid on behalf of Helping Hands, Amvik falsely identified the incorrect Board Certified Behavior Analyst (“BCBA”) as the rendering provider on the claims. This caused Connecticut Medicaid to pay claims that it would not have otherwise paid.
To resolve the allegations under the federal False Claims Act, Amvik has paid $153,300 to the federal government for conduct occurring between October 3, 2019, through October 1, 2020.
This matter was investigated by the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Kaczmarek.
People who suspect health care fraud are encouraged to report it by calling 1-800-HHS-TIPS or the Health Care Task Force at (203) 777-6311.