HARRISBURG, PA —The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Penn State has agreed to pay $899,824.55 to resolve allegations of civil liability for the submission of claims by the Penn State Psychological Clinic in State College, PA, to Medicare, TRICARE and Medicaid between February 1, 2015 and July 31, 2020 for behavioral health and Evaluation & Management services that violated Medicare rules and regulations.
According to U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus, Penn State, through the Clinic, is alleged to have submitted improper claims related to behavioral health services with respect to the supervision of doctoral students, “incident-to” billing requirements, and/or the credentialling of licensed practitioners for Medicare participation. Additionally, the Clinic is alleged to have submitted claims for Evaluation & Management services that were not supported by the medical record. After discovering the problems, Penn State took prompt corrective action and disclosed the matter to the United States Attorney’s Office. Restitution is $599,883.03 of the settlement amount.
This matter was handled by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Counsel to the Inspector General (OCIG), the Defense Health Agency (DHA), acting on behalf of the TRICARE program, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tamara Haken of the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
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