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SALT LAKE CITY — The owner of two Utah drug and alcohol treatment centers submitted more than $700,000 in fraudulent claims to a health care benefits program, federal prosecutors say.
A federal indictment charges Dustin Joseph Long, 29, of Santaquin, with six counts of health care fraud and six counts of wire fraud. He pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court this week. A trial is scheduled for March 17.
Long is the co-owner of Arcadia Recovery Center in Payson and Arcadia Residential Treatment Center in Bluffdale. Arcadia used a third-party biller, CloudMedicalBilling, to prepare, submit and track claims filed with Humana. Long was a co-owner of the billing company.
The indictment alleges that despite numerous requests, Long denied CloudMedicalBilling employees access to BestNotes, the most accurate source of Arcadia client information available, to prepare claims and to verify the accuracy of the rosters he provided.
In late June 2015, the billing company discovered that Long’s rosters falsely identified continued drug and alcohol treatment services well past Arcadia clients’ discharge dates, according to the indictment.
Although the company notified Long about the billing discrepancies, he failed to correct any errors, did not refund money to Humana and continued to submit false rosters until October 2015.
The indictment alleges Long submitted more than 900 false claims involving 14 clients, totaling more than $700,000 in payments from Humana to Arcadia.
The maximum penalty for each of the six health care fraud counts is 10 years in prison term and a $250,000 fine. The wire fraud counts each carry a 20-year sentence and a $250,000 fine.
