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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Two people including a Newton man have been charged in a sprawling healthcare fraud scheme that stretches across state lines to Rhode Island.
Michael Brier, 60 of Newton, is the owner of Recovery Connections Centers of America, an opioid recovery treatment chain with more than a dozen locations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He and Mi Ok Bruining of Warwick, R.I. were both arrested Thursday morning.
Rhode Island US Attorney Zachary Cunha said the centers gave their patients little to no support, but billed insurers and Medicare as if they had. Cunha said patients at the centers often received as little as 15 minutes of therapy or less, even though they were billed for 45 minutes. He described a well-oiled machine of fraud, designed to use patients as a clearinghouse for insurance claims.
"A former employee was equipped with a bell that they would ring to ensure that the flow of patients moved along briskly," he alleged.
Prosecutors also say Brier filled fraudulent prescriptions using the identities of doctors, and claimed to practice medicine himself, even though he does not.
The centers have been open since 2018, but prosecutors say they were formed under false pretenses. The chain has generated around $15 million in revenue.
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