Attorney General Charity Clark announced her office’s Medicaid Fraud and Residential Abuse Unit (MFRAU) prevailed in a civil enforcement lawsuit against Phoenix Counseling & Wellness, PLC, and the company’s owner, Lauren Ann LaSante of Poultney, Vermont, for violations of the Vermont False Claims Act, which penalizes knowing or reckless abuse of taxpayer-funded programs.
Yesterday, the Court, Judge Samuel Hoar, Jr., presiding, issued a judgment in the amount of $2,733,989.47 against Ms. LaSante and Phoenix PLC. The judgment consists of an unmitigated Vermont False Claims Act award of three times the amount in fraudulent claims and mandatory inflation-adjusted civil penalties for 164 false claims made for Vermont Medicaid payment between January 2019 and September 2022.
Starting in 2022, Ms. LaSante and Phoenix PLC became the subjects of complaints regarding quality of care and failure to provide patients with their treatment records when requested. Ms. LaSante and Phoenix PLC then refused to cooperate with a multi-agency investigation and enforcement effort spanning over two years, despite numerous requests and opportunities to avoid litigation.
Vermont Medicaid service providers are required to immediately and reliably document the services for which they claim Medicaid reimbursement, and to make those records available to patients or auditors on request. While most Medicaid providers cooperate with public investigations, failure to do so exposes the provider to severe liability under state and federal laws. A violation of the Vermont False Claims Act can result in a judgment of three times the amount of public funds defrauded plus enforcement costs, and mandatory penalties for each false claim.
A copy of the judgment order can be found here. If you suspect Medicaid fraud, contact MFRAU at https://ago.vermont.gov/medicaid-fraud-report-form.
The Medicaid Fraud and Residential Abuse Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $1,332,724 for Federal fiscal year FY 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $444,241 for FY 2025, is funded by the State of Vermont.
CONTACT: Amelia Vath, Outreach and Communications Coordinator, 802-828-3171