According to a Nov. 10 news release from the Justice Department, Mi Ok Song Bruining was a supervisor at Recovery Connections Centers of America in Providence, R.I. Ms. Bruning admitted she and other employees she supervised routinely submitted false claims, billing public and private payers for more psychotherapy appointments than could be completed in a day.
In March, Recovery Connections Centers of America, which had 15 locations, closed following the fraud charges. Michael Brier, the owner of the clinics, was also charged with healthcare fraud, identity theft, money laundering and obstruction.
According to the Justice Department, Ms. Song was known by colleagues as the “five minute queen” for seeing patients for therapy sessions in which she often only asked them one question. She would then bill this time as full 45-minute counseling sessions.
Ms. Song directed her employees to copy and paste patient notes into entries to make the visit look complete for billing purposes, the Justice Department said. This resulted in identical copy and paste bills being submitted to payers.
Ms. Song is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 15.
