Kentucky recovery center employees indicted on fraud charges
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Several employees and physicians of a Central Kentucky addiction center have been indicted in federal court on more than a dozen counts of healthcare fraud related charges after they were found to be billing Medicaid for services they did not provide.
Dr. Jose Alzadon, Kristy Berry, Michael Bregenzer and Barbie VanHoose have been charged with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, 11 counts of healthcare fraud, and conspiracy to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance, according to court documents.
An unnamed doctor with the facility was also referenced in the indictment. All parties were employed at the Kentucky Addiction Center, which is an outpatient Suboxone clinic located in Winchester, KY.
Beginning in October 2017 through January 2021, the clinic allegedly billed for services by an unnamed doctor that he didn’t provide, according to court documents.
Throughout that same time, the group allegedly submitted false bills for services not provided or upcoded services to receive more money from Medicaid, according to court documents. To upcode a service means they provided one level of service but billed for a more expensive level.
The indictment also alleges the group submitted bills for services that were not medically necessary or were falsely billed under the unidentified doctor’s name.
“It was a purpose of the conspiracy for Alzadon, Berry, Bregenzer and VanHoose to unlawfully enrich themselves and to unlawfully enrich the Kentucky Addiction Center,” the indictment reads.
Finally, the group was indicted for allegedly dispensing quantities of controlled substances, such as Suboxone, a medication used to treat substance use disorder, in a way that was not authorized.
The indictment states Alzadon, Berry and Bregenzer used the Drug Enforcement Administration’s registration number of the unnamed doctor to allow those who were unauthorized to prescribe the medications.
They did so by using a device such as a “hard token” which is separate from the computer used by a doctor to electronically issue prescriptions.
“(The defendants) then allowed or directed (Kentucky Addiction Center) personnel who were not authorized to possess the tokens and were prohibited from approving electronic controlled substance prescriptions to use the tokens to electronically authorize such controlled substance prescriptions,” the indictment alleges.
The most serious charges in the indictment have a maximum sentence of 10 years each, a fine of not more than $250,000 or the greater of twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss, and supervised release of not more than three years.
Staff writer Bill Estep contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 7, 2023 11:55 AM.
Taylor Six is the criminal justice reporter at the Herald-Leader. She was born and raised in Lexington attending Lafayette High School. She graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 2018 with a degree in journalism. She previously worked as the government reporter for the Richmond Register.
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