Pyschotherapy firm fleeced Medicare, prosecutors say

Thursday, December 11, 2003

By Chris Hack

Staff writer, Daily SouthTown,

The owner of a now-defunct Park Forest psychotherapy service firm bilked Medicare out of $650,000 in reimbursements for bogus therapy sessions for the elderly, according to a federal indictment made public Wednesday.

Ronald Lee Parks, 55, who now lives in Dallas, allegedly ran the scheme from 1997 to 2000 from his company Tentacle Consulting Services, 423 Tamarack St., Park Forest.

Under federal regulations, psychotheraphy sessions for individuals or families must be "medically necessary" and performed by a qualified psychiatrist to be covered by Medicare.

Neither Parks nor Tentacle Consulting were licensed Medicare providers, according to the indictment. Tentacle allegedly employed several social workers and counselors — but not Medicare-qualified psychiatrists psychotherapists — to provide psychotherapy services.

According to the indictment, those Tentacle employees scoured local apartment complexes to offer the psychotherapy services to elderly residents eligible for Medicare. Parks then allegedly submitted the bills to Medicare under the name of a qualified physician...

Source and Copyright: Chris Hack, Daily SouthTown (dailysouthtown.com)