A 44-year-old Stratford doctor who owns a Connecticut medical practice pleaded guilty to health care fraud and kickbacks involving federal health care programs in Hartford Thursday, according to federal officials.
Bjoern Wylezich / TNS
STRATFORD — A local doctor admitted to health care fraud and kickback offenses Thursday, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Ananthakumar Thillainathan, MD, the owner and president of medical practice MDCareNow, LLC, allegedly submitted fraudulent claims to the Connecticut Medicaid program and made illegal compensatory payments to an unidentified patient-recruitment company for a period of nearly three years. Thillainathan, 44, a citizen of Sri Lanka and lawful permanent resident of the U.S., was released on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing, officials said.
Prosecutors said MDCareNow has been an internal medicine and behavioral health care provider in the Connecticut Medicaid program. The practice has offices in both Stratford and Milford. Between approximately June 2019 and May 2022, Thillainathan, himself of Stratford, billed Connecticut Medicaid about $839,724 for psychotherapy services that he knew patients had never received, according to prosecutors.
Specifically, prosecutors said, Thillainathan falsely represented that employees who had either spoken with patients briefly, left a voicemail for patients or had no contact with patients at all had instead provided 60-minute therapy sessions.
Thillainathan also admitted to violating the terms of his Connecticut Medical Assistance Program provider agreement by paying kickbacks to a third-party patient-recruitment company, according to officials. Between approximately November 2019 and May 2021, officials said, Thillainathan paid the company a total of approximately $1,108 for recruiting patients and providing them with transportation to MDCareNow for health care services — $100 per patient for an initial visit and $40 per patient for every follow-up visit. Connecticut Medicaid reimbursed MDCareNow a total of approximately $1,071,328 for services provided to these patients, officials said.
Thillainathan pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of kickbacks involving federal health care programs in federal court in Hartford and agreed to pay $1,674,880 in restitution, according to officials. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport on Jan. 26.
caroline.tien@hearst.com
