ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG ANNOUNCES FALSE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT WITH OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY PRACTICE
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today announced a $2,366,269.94 settlement with Therapy Unlimited, LLC and its owner Catherine Risigo Wickline, resolving allegations of overbilling in violation of the Connecticut False Claims Act.
From at least 2014, Therapy Unlimited provided both occupational and physical therapy primarily to children at its Watertown, Connecticut office. Wickline was an occupational therapist licensed in Connecticut. In 2019, the Office of the Attorney General sued Wickline and Therapy Unlimited, following an investigation that showed thousands of inflated false claims to the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program between January 2014 and July 2019. The investigation found evidence that Therapy Unlimited routinely billed for up to two and a half hours of therapy where only 30 to 45 minutes of therapy was provided. Nearly all claims were billed with Wickline as the performing provider, including allegedly in instances where a lower-level provider or unlicensed provider had performed the services.
In 2021, the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit charged Wickline with larceny and healthcare fraud based on the same fraudulent scheme. The civil lawsuit was stayed during the pendency of the state criminal case. In 2024, Wickline was convicted of larceny in the first degree for defrauding a public community, a Class B felony, and...
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