Brookfield Substance Abuse Clinic Hit With $2.3M False Claim Judgement

BROOKFIELD, WI —On Thursday, a U.S. District Judge entered a civil judgment of over $2.3 million against a doctor and his Brookfield substance abuse clinic after authorities accused him of making false prescription claims to Wisconsin's Medicaid program.

U.S. District Judge Joseph P. Stadtmueller entered the default judgment against Dr. Siamak Arassi and the clinic Healing Corner in connection with violations of the False Claims act, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad. Federal authorites and the stepfather of a patient who received care from the Healing Corner filed a joint complaint against the clinic and Arassi in 2019, court documents showed.

The complaint accused Arassi and the clinic of ordering excess Vivitrol, a drug that can be used to treat alcohol dependence and prevent opioid relapse. The clinic — at the direction of Arassi —would order the prescriptions under former patients' names who were reimbursed by Wisconsin Medicaid, creating a stockpile of the drug that the clinic would administer to non-Medicaid patients for cash, according to the news release.

For one former patient the clinic ordered Vivitrol five times under Medicaid reimbursement, the complaint said, even though the patient was no longer being treated there after 2016. At one point, the patient was incarcerated but Vivitrol was still reimbursed to his Medicaid, the complaint said. Then, years later, the patient received a letter from Medicaid requesting a nearly $6,000 payment for injections that he never recieved because his income had changed and he was no longer eligible for reimbursement, according to the civil complaint.

A statement is posted to the clinic's website saying it is now closed for good. It was located at 19115 Capitol Drive in Brookfield.

"I got sick and tired of the vindictive department of justice department, department of health and family services in Madison, medical Board of Wisconsin, and department of quality assurance," reads the statement posted on the clinic's website, "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."

Typically, Medicaid reimburses around $1,600 for a Vivitrol injection.

“Seeking reimbursement for medications that are not administered to the intended beneficiary for profit, undermines the integrity of medical professionals who we entrust to care for our most vulnerable populations,” said Mario M. Pinto, Special Agent in Charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, in the news release. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to pursue medical professionals and others who defraud our Federal health care programs.”