Two co-owners of a holistic health care center in Warwick have been accused of defrauding federal and private health care insurance providers of almost $1.9 million. Brandon Nowak, 32, of Providence, and Jason Simmons, 32, of Foster, were charged in federal court with health care fraud conspiracy, health care fraud, and filing false claims. They allegedly submitted fraudulent claims for services that were not provided to patients at their business, AIM Health Care Centers LLC, which has satellite offices in Pawtucket, North Kingstown, and East Providence.
According to the allegations made by authorities, AIM Health Care Centers is accused of electronically submitting false claims for services such as infrared and hot/cold therapy, therapeutic activity, and self-care/home management training that were not actually provided. They also submitted claims for acupuncture and evaluation and management office visits when the services rendered were massages by licensed massage therapists, which is not a covered service. Additionally, the company is accused of billing for high complexity office visits that did not occur, changing codes on reimbursement forms to avoid denials for services that were not provided or medically necessary, and billing for services rendered by uncredentialed providers under the numbers of credentialed providers.
The total amount of fraudulent payments received by AIM Health Care Centers from government and private insurers is alleged to be $1872330. The story was reported with assistance from generative artificial intelligence (AI) by a journalist at What’sUpNewp.
