HARTFORD, Conn. — A Hamden woman who served as a state-licensed professional counselor in North Haven pleaded guilty to health care fraud in Hartford Tuesday after admitting to defrauding Medicaid of over $1.6 million, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Rachel Collins, 44, waved her right to be indicted. Court documents and statements revealed that she was the owner of Rachel Collins, LPC Counseling Services in North Haven, a business that provided psychotherapy to children, adolescents and adults.
Prosecutors said she worked quite frequently with children and adolescents with a range of behavioral and mental health issues. As part of her work, she was enrolled individually as a Behavioral Health Clinician provider in the Connecticut Medicaid Program.
According to the release, between January 2018 and March 2024, Collins submitted and was responsible for the submission of fraudulent claims to Medicaid for psychotherapy services that were “purportedly provided to Medicaid clients.”
Collins specifically submitted claims under her own billing and performing provider identification number for dates of service when no services were provided to the Medicaid clients identified in the claims, prosecutors said.
“Collins submitted claims for purported dates of service when she was purportedly working as a full-time clinician for another provider; billed for 12 hours of purported services in a day and, in some cases, 24 or more hours in a day; submitted false claims for dates when she was traveling out of state, during national holidays, and on weekends; and submitted claims after she had stopped treating the claimed client, had never treated the claimed client, or the claimed client was in the hospital,” the release said.
Prosecutors said that the scheme defrauded Medicaid of $1,647,031.
Collins has agreed to pay full restitution as part of her plea and will forfeit $114,085 that was taken from a bank account during the investigation, according to the release.
Collins is released on a $100,000 bond and will be sentenced on Oct. 30. She could face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
According to prosecutors, the investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General.
People who feel health care fraud is being committed are asked to report it by dialing 1-800-HHS-TIPS.
RELATED: Former alcohol and drug abuse counselor from Bloomfield pleads guilty to defrauding Medicaid
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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