The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has reached a $10 million settlement with CEO George Kiongera and his firm, Lawrence, MA-based Maestro-Connections Health Systems, which allegedly sent false claims to MassHealth, the state Medicaid program. The attorney general made the announcement on Thursday.
In addition to the cash settlement, the agreement blocks Maestro-Connections from providing services to MassHealth members until the company hires an outside monitor and undergoes a three-year compliance program during which its policies are to be updated and its staff retrained.
“Today’s outcome demonstrates the ongoing work between MassHealth and the Medicaid Fraud Division and MassHealth’s program integrity efforts to prevent inappropriate payments,” said DanTsai, assistant secretary and Medicaid director in the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Division. Since 2016, the attorney general’s office has recovered $40 million in payments to MassHealth.
“Companies that defraud MassHealth take vital resources away from the program and the people who need them most,” Healey said.
This isn’t the first settlement for Maestro-Connections and Kiongera. In 2017, the firm and its CEO agreed to a $1 million settlement for failing to keep accurate payroll records and not paying overtime to more than 600 home health aides.
