The former operator of Brookfield-based medical clinic
Healing Corner, LLC has been ordered to repay over $2.3 million after he allegedly submitted several false claims through the Wisconsin Medicaid program.
Dr. Siamak Arassi was charged with two counts of violating the False Claims Act in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in December of 2019. Arassi “willfully and intentionally” falsified billing statements and records to fraudulently receive payments from Medicaid for substance abuse treatments that were not actually given to patients who were billed for such treatments, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.
Arassi operated the Healing Corner at 19115 W. Capitol Drive. The clinic provided treatment for opioid addiction, including medical assisted treatment, behavioral health services, and family services.
A former patient of the clinic alleged that as part of his treatment, the Healing Corner ordered administered shots of Vivitrol, a medication used in the treatment of alcohol or opioid dependence. Vivitrol is administered by a health care professional to patients monthly and reimbursed by Wisconsin Medicaid at approximately $1,600 per injection.
The complaint states that after the man’s treatment was completed, the Healing Corner kept on ordering injections under his name. A total of five additional injections were allegedly ordered and never administered.
“The Healing Comer routinely bills Medicaid for injections and other medications that are never administered to the individual for whom the medications are prescribed,” the complaint states. “By presenting and using such false and fraudulent claims, the Healing Comer is defrauding Medicaid, a program that is funded jointly by the United States and the State of Wisconsin.”
This practice created a stockpile of excess Vivitrol, which Healing Corner administered to non-Medicaid patients for cash—often paying Healing Corner over $1,000 out of pocket per month. Healing Corner also administered free samples of Vivitrol to Medicaid patients but still submitted claims to Medicaid for reimbursement.
Arassi has been ordered to repay a total of $2,346,545. The Healing Corner has closed for good, according to a notice on the clinic’s website.
“I got sick and tired of the vindictive department of justice, department of health and family services in Madison, medical board of Wisconsin, and department of quality assurance they a bunch of gangsters all working under the same roof and the same building in Madison and they’re not there to help you they’re there to make sure that you fail they only help their own bodies it is an exclusive club shame on them for treating me so badly,” said Arassi on a post made on his website.
Arassi could not be reached for additional comment.
