Former Top Ranking Executive At Pediatric Behavioral Health Clinic Pleads Guilty To Falsifying Patient Records

Jacksonville, FL – Acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow announces that John Christopher Walcutt (40, Jacksonville) has pleaded guilty to falsifying patient progress notes of children with autism and other behavioral health issues, in response to a federal audit. He faces a maximum term of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

 

According to the

, Walcutt was the former managing member of Keystone Behavioral Pediatrics, a developmental center, where children with developmental, learning, and behavioral issues ostensibly received counseling and therapy. In late 2011, Keystone received an audit request from the government for randomly selected patient files.

 

In submitting claims for reimbursement from TRICARE, which is a health care program for military personnel, Keystone certified that some of its pediatric patients had received “one on one” counseling and therapy. Some of the patients were also represented to have received therapy for autism from licensed and credentialed providers. In reality, many of the patients had not received “one on one” counseling or therapy from licensed and credentialed providers and, in some cases, had been left unsupervised in a small “play pen” area. Only some of the children had received therapy in a group setting. In most cases, non-credentialed employees, including graduate students, were treating the children.

 

Walcutt and others participated in the altering of patient files that were sent in response to the government’s audit request. As a result of the falsified patient records, TRICARE paid Keystone approximately $600,000 for claims that otherwise would not have been reimbursable.

 

This case was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and Naval Criminal Investigative Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jason Mehta.