Connecticut Attorney General William Tong and United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut Vanessa Roberts Avery issued a joint announcement on August 28 that three associated dental practices agreed to pay $1.7 million in a settlement to resolve allegations that they violated state and federal False Claims Act statutes by paying for a “patient recruitment” service.
Stanislav Gintautas, DDS and Tatiana Agababaeva, DDS own Family Dentistry of Stamford, Family Dentistry of Bridgeport, and Family Dentistry of Hartford. The entities are registered as part of the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program, which includes Connecticut Medicaid.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the federal Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been working on a joint investigation into alleged kickback-tainted claims for services rendered to Connecticut Medicaid patients referred by third-party patient recruiting companies. The Family Dentistry settlement is the second legal action to stem from the investigation.
Between 2016 and 2018 Family Dentistry is alleged to have paid $115 to a third party recruiting firm for reach Medicaid patient referred to them that paid for more than routine preventative care.
“Paying kickbacks for patient recruitment is illegal. Dentists and dental practices participating in Connecticut’s public healthcare programs are responsible for knowing the law. This is the second settlement arising from ongoing joint investigations, and we will continue to work closely with our state and federal partners to aggressively protect the integrity of our public healthcare programs,” said Attorney General Tong.
The settlement will prevent prosecution, but the Family Dentistry practices does not admit any liability while prosecutors maintain that the conclusions they drew are well founded.
