A woman who formerly lived in Stratford was sentenced to three years in prison for health care fraud offenses, according to federal authorities.

Nicole Steiner, formerly known as Nicole Balkas, 33, also was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to three years of supervised release, according to federal authorities. Meyer also ordered Steiner to pay $505,955.56 in restitution.

Authorities said Steiner owned and operated Helping Hands Academy, LLC, in Bridgeport, “which provided applied behavior analysis services to children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” and was a participating provider in the Connecticut Medicaid Program. 

“From December 2018 to October 2020, Steiner submitted and caused to be submitted fraudulent claims to Medicaid for applied behavior analysis services that were purportedly provided to Medicaid clients,” authorities said in a statement. “She submitted claims for dates of service when no applied behavior analysis services of any kind had been provided to the Medicaid clients identified in the claims, and she inflated the number of hours for certain claims even when applied behavior analysis had been provided to the Medicaid clients identified in the claims.”

Further, Steiner submitted “false Medicaid claims in 2020 using a former employee’s name and performing provider number.”

Medicaid suffered a loss of more than $500,000 as “a result of Steiner’s admitted conduct,” the statement said.

Steiner pleaded guilty in April 2021 to one count of health care fraud, but then, while she was awaiting sentencing, was a “silent partner in another company that provided applied behavior analysis services to children diagnosed with ASD called New Beginnings Children’s Behavioral Health LLC,” federal authorities said in the statement.

“Steiner was responsible for billing claims to Medicaid, managing payroll, and recruiting and screening potential employees, and she and had access to and used her business partner’s email and other online accounts to operate the company. Steiner and the company engaged in health care fraud by billing Medicaid for thousands of dollars in services not rendered and, in particular, billing for services not rendered by Steiner,” the statement said.

Steiner she pleaded guilty in July 2022 to a second count of health care fraud.