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NORTH CAROLINA MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE PROVIDER TO PAY $485,000

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Trend Area Mental Health, Developmental and Substance Abuse Services will pay the United States $485,000 to settle allegations that the Henderson, North Carolina-based company over billed Medicaid, the Justice Department announced today. Trend is a provider in the North Carolina Medicaid Community Alternatives Program for Persons with Mental Retardation and Other Developmental Disabilities (CAP/MR).

The settlement resolves allegations that from July 1, 1995 through December 31, 1998, Trend submitted false claims for Medicaid reimbursement for services not performed. The government also alleged that Trend failed to document services adequately and to oversee and manage services of contractors properly. As a CAP/MR provider, Trend was required to provide mental health and disability services to Medicaid patients residing in Hendersonville and Transylvania counties in North Carolina.

The settlement resolved a lawsuit filed by James and Jane Lindsey in 1997 under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. The Lindseys, who are foster parents to a child who was entitled to the services Trend was supposed to provide under the CAP/MR program, will share in the proceeds of the settlement.

The case was handled jointly by the Civil Division of the Department of Justice and the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina with assistance from the North Carolina Department of Justice's Medicaid Investigations Unit.

The case is entitled U.S. ex rel Lindsey v. Trend Community Mental Health Services, Inc. and State of North Carolina Department of Human Resources; Civil No. 1:97cv311.

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