WARWICK, RI – The owners and operators of a Warwick pain management clinic have been indicted by a federal grand jury on health care fraud charges for allegedly defrauding government and private health care insurers, Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom announced.
Brandon Nowak, 32, and Jason Simmons, 33, both of Foster, RI, and officers and operators of Alternative Integrative Medicine, LLC, d/b/a Aim Health, are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and fourteen counts of health care fraud.
Health care fraud sought payment for massage therapy not covered by insurance
The U.S. Attorney alleges that beginning October 2020, Nowak and Simmons conspired to and intentionally and repeatedly submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicare Advantage, Medicaid Managed Care, and four private insurers in order to collect payments for certain purportedly “medically necessary” services that were not actually provided to patients.
The indictment also alleges that patients were routinely informed that massage therapy was a service covered by their insurance, when in fact it was not. In order to receive insurance payment for massage therapy provided by a massage therapist, the defendants allegedly billed insurers for covered services such as acupuncture, physical therapy, and evaluation and management office visits, none of which the patients actually received.
Additionally, it is alleged that the defendants submitted claims for services such as infrared therapy, hot and cold therapy, therapeutic activity, and self-care/home management training that were not provided to the patients and for which AIM Health did not employ appropriate providers.
The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court on April 11, 2025. A federal indictment is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dulce Donovan, with the assistance of Assistant United States Attorney John P. McAdams.
The matter was investigated by the U.S. Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Department of Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General.
Author: Rob Borkowski
Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at editor@warwickpost.com with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.
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