Massachusetts Treatment Organization, Operator Charged in Alleged Fraud Scheme

A chain of addiction treatment clinics in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, its operator, and an employee face multiple federal charges related to an alleged healthcare fraud scheme.

Michael Brier, of Newton, Massachusetts, owner of Recovery Connections Centers of America (RCCA), has been accused of healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, and obstruction. Mi Ok Bruining, of Warwick, Rhode Island, a former RCCA supervisory counselor, and the organization have also been charged with healthcare fraud. Charges were announced by US Attorney Zachary A. Cunha on Thursday.

Brier, Bruining, and RCCA are suspected of short-changing substance use disorder patients out of counseling and treatment services, as well as defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and other health insurers. According to a news release, Brier, Bruining, and RCCA billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other health insurers for 45-minute counseling sessions and treatment but provided sessions that were “not more than 15 minutes, and often only 5-10 minutes or less.”

Documents filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) also include the following allegations:

• Brier and RCCA are suspected of causing a fraudulent application to be submitted to Medicare, misrepresenting and concealing Brier’s role in the business and failing to disclose a 2013 criminal conviction for federal tax crimes.
• Brier is accused of purporting to practice medicine and writing fraudulent prescriptions using the names and prescriber information of doctors without their permission.
• Brier is also accused of falsifying documents by causing a medical director to sign a false and back-dated document.

“What makes the fraud scheme that we have charged today particularly pernicious is that not only was this scheme, as we allege, designed to defraud by enriching these defendants with federal and private healthcare dollars they did not earn, but that in the process it cheated a vulnerable population of recovery patients out of the full, genuine support and treatment that they need to have a chance at recovery,” Cunha said at a news conference announcing the charges.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Service is working to maintain continuity of care and treatment for impacted RCCA patients, according to the release.

Reference

Operators of addiction treatment chain charged in alleged health care fraud. News release. United States Attorney’s Office, District of Rhode Island. March 2, 2023. Accessed March 8, 2023.