First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes…marriage counseling? For many couples, seeking out professional help can be the difference between making the long haul or becoming a divorce statistic. But does that stand true for married psychologists also? Turns out counseling is actually an ethical issue! The American Counseling Association’s code of ethics requires counselors to monitor themselves for signs of impairment and seek assistance for problems that could lead to impairment. Dr. Evelyn Llewellyn probably wished she and her husband, Dr. Michael Lonski, took a few couples therapy sessions. Because maybe then, they wouldn’t be guilty of Medicare and Medicaid fraud!
Lonski was a licensed psychologist who, along with wife, Dr. Evelyn Llewellyn, maintained separate medical practices out of their home office in Old Greenwich. Lonski and Llewellyn were authorized providers for the Connecticut Medicaid program , Medicare, and other health care benefit programs. Lonski assumed responsibility for submitting claims for reimbursement for services allegedly provided by himself and Llewellyn. “I got this honey.”
For years, Lonski billed insurers for services that he knew were not rendered, including by billing for patients who were deceased, for dates of service when he and Evelyn were out of the country, and for dates of service when he himself was hospitalized. From 2014 through 2019, Lonski submitted more than 80,000 fraudulent claims for service. On sixty of these days, Lonski billed for more than twenty four hours of service. On over nine hundred of those days, Lonski billed for more than twelve hours of service. In 2017, Lonski claimed to have provided services every single day that year, including weekends and holidays, except for one day! These fraudulent claims resulted in a loss of over $2,651,294, including a loss of $1,157,292 to the Connecticut Medicaid program and a loss of $119,092 Medicare.
On December 12, 2022, Lonski pleaded guilty to health care fraud. Lonski is required to report to prison on March 25, 2024. Llewellyn has agreed to pay $658,294 to settle allegations that she received payment for the fraudulent claims submitted by her husband.
Great job by the Department of Health and Human Services in this investigation.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Greenwich psychologist gets prison for defrauding insurers, must pay back $2.7M, officials say” published by Greenwich Time on December 19, 2023
A Greenwich psychologist who received nearly $2.7 million from fraudulently billing insurers for services he didn’t provide was sentenced Monday to serve 27 months in prison, according to the U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut.
According to the justice department, Michael Lonski, 72, submitted more than 80,000 claims for services between 2014 and 2019, claiming he’d provided services every day of those years except one, including weekends and holidays. He claimed to have provided services for more than 12 hours on 901 of those dates, and that he provided services for more than 24 hours on 60 of the dates, the department said.
