MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A private company that operates a youth rehabilitation center in Baldwin County has agreed to pay nearly $3.5 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit that federal authorities eventually picked up, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday.
The Alabama Department of Youth Services contracts with the company to provide certain services to Medicaid-eligible youth recipients. The lawsuit accused Pathway Inc. and Pathway of Baldwin County of wrongfully billing Medicaid for individual basic living skills services that it did not actually provide.
“Ensuring that taxpayer money is spent appropriately is a responsibility the Justice Department takes seriously,” Acting U.S. Attorney Sean Costello said in a prepared statement. “The False Claims Act is an important tool that we and our agency partners rely on to stop practices that misuse public funds.”
The defendants agreed to the settlement without admitting wrongdoing.
The top official at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General praised the settlement.
“Submitting false claims to Medicaid undermines the integrity of federal health care programs and wastes valuable taxpayer dollars,” Special Agent in Charge Tamala E. Miles said in a statement. “Working closely with our law enforcement partners, HHS-OIG remains committed investigating and holding accountable bad actors who attempt to defraud federal health care programs.”
The case began with a civil complaint filed in 2017 under...
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