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Investigative Press Release
May
14
2018

Psychiatrist and Mental Health Clinic Pay Over $800,000 to Settle False Claims Act Allegations

United States Attorney John H. Durham and Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen today announced that DR. ERUM SHAHAB and WAIRE, LLC, doing business as ELLINGTON BEHAVIORAL HEALTH (“EBH”), have entered into a civil settlement agreement with the federal and state governments in which they will pay $805,071 to resolve allegations that they violated the federal and state False Claims Acts.

SHAHAB, a psychiatrist, is the owner of EBH, a psychiatric medical practice located in Ellington, Connecticut. As part of SHAHAB and EBH’s treatment of patients with substance use disorders, SHAHAB and EBH regularly conducted urine drug screening tests on urine samples collected from patients treated at the practice. Urine drug screening tests use a single sample of a patient’s urine to test for multiple classes of drugs. Although the test screens a patient’s urine for multiple classes of drugs, Medicare considers it a single test that should be billed only once per patient encounter.

This matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard M. Molot, and by Assistant Attorney General Gregory O’Connell of the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General.