RICHMOND, VA – A 72-year-old licensed clinical social worker from Mechanicsville has been ordered to pay more than $1.2 million after pleading guilty to healthcare fraud and settling related civil claims involving years of false billing to Medicare and Medicaid.
Daniel Jacobsen was sentenced in March to three months in federal prison for submitting at least $335,824 in fraudulent claims for psychotherapy services between 2017 and 2022. Prosecutors said Jacobsen regularly billed for sessions that never occurred — including claims showing more than 16 hours of therapy in a single day — and used inflated billing codes for services that were either not performed or were of lesser complexity.
To support the fraudulent claims, Jacobsen created false psychotherapy progress notes to make it appear patients had received services when they had not.
He pleaded guilty to criminal healthcare fraud on October 17 and has already paid $316,338 in restitution. He was also ordered to forfeit $335,821 and pay a $100,000 fine. Separately, he has now agreed to settle civil healthcare fraud allegations for an additional $449,015, bringing the total amount owed to $1,201,175.
The joint investigation involved the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the FBI, and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.
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Key Points
- Daniel Jacobsen admitted to billing Medicare and Medicaid for psychotherapy sessions that never happened
- Fraudulent claims included overbilling and false documentation from 2017 to 2022
- He will pay over $1.2 million in restitution, fines, forfeiture, and civil settlements