Arlington man sentenced to prison on health care fraud charges, must pay back $416K
An Arlington man who operated a mental health clinic in Forney, which is about 25 miles east of Dallas, was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison Wednesday for submitting fraudulent claims to health care insurers over the course of four years.
Jason Neil Hughes, 48, pleaded guilty last September to charges of health care fraud. Hughes has to pay over $416,000 in restitution to private health insurers after he started a mental health clinic and from 2015 through 2019 “carried out a scheme to defraud private health insurers though the submission of false and fraudulent claims,” a news release from the Department of Justice said.
“Hughes and others incorrectly billed private insurance claims using a Texarkana doctor’s National Provider Identifier (‘NPI’) for counseling services that the doctor did not provide,” the release said.
Hughes, who owned the clinic ChangePoint Counseling Service, founded it in 2013 and sold it in 2019. The Department of Justice said that Hughes also had the clinic’s counselors use their NPA numbers to submit claims, which resulted in higher payments from insurers.
“This billing practice resulted in ChangePoint receiving an average of 100% to 120% additional money paid per service from health insurers,” the release said.
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 1:44 PM.
