Former East Lyme Resident Sentenced In Health Care Fraud Case: Feds

EAST LYME, CT — A former East Lyme resident and New London counselor accused of health care fraud and kickback offenses was sentenced Tuesday to three years of probation, according to U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery.

In a news release, Avery said Jeffrey Slocum, 56, of Johnstown, Pa., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in Bridgeport to three years of probation, the first 12 months of which he must serve in home confinement under electronic monitoring.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Slocum is a former East Lyme resident who worked as a licensed professional counselor with an office located at 300 State Street in New London from 2017 to 2022.

In 2020, the Connecticut Medicaid program notified Slocum that Medicaid was going to audit certain claims for psychotherapy services Slocum had billed to Medicaid between March 2018 and February 2020. As part of its audit, Medicaid requested patient records for approximately 100 individual psychotherapy services Slocum had billed to Medicaid, according to Avery.

In March 2021, Medicaid informed Slocum the audit determined he had received over $225,000 in payments from Medicaid for services he had not documented. Medicaid told Slocum it would begin to collect the overpayment by deducting the overpayment in installments from future payments Medicaid would make to Slocum, according to Avery.

Once Slocum learned the results of the audit and that he would have to pay the money back to Medicaid, he began submitting fraudulent claims to Medicaid for psychotherapy services that he never provided. All of the fraudulent claims Slocum submitted to Medicaid represented that he had personally provided the nonexistent services, Avery said.

According to Avery, Slocum also engaged in a scheme to pay kickbacks to his Medicaid patients in order to induce them to receive psychotherapy services from him. Slocum paid these kickbacks to patients in the form of cash payments, money orders and Walmart and Visa gift cards.

Slocum was ordered to pay restitution of $695,048 to Medicaid.

On Aug. 16, 2023, he pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud and one count of violating the federal anti-kickback statute, according to Avery.

People who suspect health care fraud are encouraged to report it by calling 1-800-HHS-TIPS.