A Colorado Springs psychologist has agreed to pay $86,675.68 to settle allegations that he wrongly billed TRICARE, the United States military health insurance program, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announced.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado also entered a consent judgment against the doctor, David Hatfield, age 48, and his company, Development Behavioral Health, Inc. (DBH) in the amount of $1,283,027.04 based on this conduct. If Dr. Hatfield does not make the payments based on the settlement agreement, the government can enforce the consent judgment, which would result in Dr. Hatfield having to pay the entire $1.283 million judgment.
TRICARE is the United States military health insurance program. It pays for, among other things, therapy services to developmentally disabled children who are children of military members. While TRICARE pays for this type of therapy, it does not pay for administrative services.
While Dr. Hatfield billed the TRICARE program for therapy services provided to developmentally disabled children, the United States alleged that from 2008 through 2013, Dr. Hatfield and DBH also improperly submitted hundreds of claims to the TRICARE program for administrative services. In particular, Dr. Hatfield and DBH improperly collected substantial payments from TRICARE on claims for such things as time spent filling out timesheets, time spent for cancelled appointments where no therapy was provided, or time or money spent on supplies or food.
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