Family Workshop Counseling Center and Owner to Pay $350,000 to Resolve Alleged Improper Medicare Billing

ALBUQUERQUE - Family Workshop Counseling Center, LLC, and its owner, Jeffrey Burrows, have agreed to pay $350,000 to the United States to resolve allegations that they improperly billed Medicare for clinical social worker services provided by individuals who were not authorized to receive Medicare reimbursement.

According to the settlement agreement, between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2021, Family Workshop Counseling Center, LLC, a mental health and behavioral health counseling group with offices in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho, and Jeffrey Burrows submitted claims to Medicare for clinical social worker services using the billing credentials of licensed clinical social workers when the services were actually provided by individuals who were not authorized to receive Medicare reimbursement. Under Medicare rules, only licensed clinical social workers may be reimbursed for clinical social worker services.

The allegations arose from a qui tam lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico by former Family Workshop employees under the False Claims Act. The settlement covers only the claims related to the allegedly improper Medicare billing and does not resolve the relators' separate claims for wrongful discharge, prima facie tort, and libel, slander, or defamation.

To resolve the allegations, Family Workshop and Burrows agreed to pay $350,000 to the United States, including $121,305 in restitution. The settlement does not release potential criminal liability or certain administrative enforcement rights.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison made the announcement today.

The matter was investigated by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico. The settlement and investigation were handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Cunniff and Auditors Philip Stella and Julie Chappell.