Federal and state prosecutors have jumped on board a 2007 whistle-blower suit leveling Medicaid-fraud accusations against a Marion, Va., inpatient psychiatric counseling center for boys.
Keystone Marion Youth Center is accused of falsifying medical records and holding patients longer than necessary to bill for more money, according to a suit filed Tuesday by federal and state prosecutors.
“Instead of treatment planning and ‘acute treatment’ as required by federal and state law, defendants provided the program of a juvenile detention facility,” the federal claim states.
The lawsuit asks that a civil jury determine both the amount of compensation owed to Virginia’s Medicaid system, and fines for each false claim alleged.
The center is accused of:
* Falsifying the medical records of at least 21 patients since October 2005.
* Aggravating patients to exacerbate their condition so Medicaid can be billed for longer stays and more intensive counseling.
* Initiating “drive-by” therapy sessions that consist of brief hallway run-ins with patients, but later billed as lengthy meetings.
* And stretching patient admissions longer than necessary.
Also listed as a defendant is the center’s owner, Universal Health Services Inc., based in King of Prussia, Penn., and subsidiary Keystone Marion LLC, based in Nashville, Tenn.
Keystone Marion Youth Center denied the allegations by e-mail Wednesday, and vowed to fight the case.
“It is offensive and defamatory to the dedicated and hard working healthcare providers at Marion Youth Center to claim that they are not providing medical care and treatment and to disparage those individuals by asserting Marion is a detention center,” the statement said. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Though prosecutors filed the lawsuit Tuesday, court records show the investigation follows a 2007 whistle-blower suit filed by three of the center’s former therapists.
Along with claims of fraud, records show that Megan L. Johnson, Leslie L. Webb and Kimberly Stafford-Payne also claimed sexual and racial discrimination in their 2007 suit.
The new suit lists the women as co-plaintiffs alongside the United States and Virginia, and would share a percentage of any jury award.
mowens@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2549
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