Medicaid-fraud lawsuit filed against Wenatchee-based company
OLYMPIA – The state attorney general’s office has filed a Medicaid-fraud lawsuit against a Wenatchee-based company for reportedly providing fraudulent training to dozens of school districts around the state.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Thurston County Superior Court, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the fraudulent training led to tens of millions of dollars in false Medicaid claims.
The lawsuit was filed against Thomas and Sheila Reese, their company, JT Educational Consultants, and several employees and contractors. An email to the company seeking comment was not immediately returned Thursday afternoon.
The same company consulted with the Centralia School District, which settled related Medicaid fraud allegations for $372,000 in July.
Ferguson said the company did not help school districts obtain reimbursement for legitimate costs incurred while helping Medicaid eligible students. Instead, it caused districts to file false claims and received millions of dollars in consulting fees, beginning in 2005, he said.
The lawsuit says it is targeting a group of individuals, including former school administrators and employees, “who built a grossly profitable consulting business by marketing a corrupted version of this program.”
When the state moved toward implementing a computer-based system to help school districts with their claims, JT Educational Consultants opposed the effort, according to the lawsuit. The old, paper-based system was essential to their enterprise, the lawsuit stated.