Attorney General Josh Stein Reaches $825,000 Health Care Fraud Settlement

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, December 10, 2024

Contact:
Nazneen Ahmed (919) 716-0060

(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein announced a $825,000 settlement to resolve allegations that Carter Clinic, P.A., and its owner, Myleme Nyerere Ojinga Harrison, M.D. submitted false claims to the North Carolina Medicaid program.

"Health care providers can't waste taxpayer dollars to put more in their own pockets," said Attorney General Josh Stein. "My office will hold accountable providers when they defraud the Medicaid program and take valuable health care resources."

The Carter Clinic is a clinical laboratory headquartered in Raleigh that billed Medicaid for urine drug testing, outpatient substance use disorder treatment, and counseling and peer support services. Between January 1, 2020, and May 27, 2024, Carter allegedly ordered frequent and repetitive definitive urine drug tests for patients for at least 15 to 21 classes of drugs without adjusting the level of testing performed, and irrespective of the results or the patient's treatment progression. The nature and level of this testing was allegedly not medically necessary or reasonable. Carter also allegedly failed to perform and/or obtain test results within a reasonable time and failed to document the peer support services it billed to Medicaid, some of which the state contends were unnecessary.

The Federal and North Carolina False Claims Acts authorize the governments to recover triple the money falsely obtained, plus substantial civil penalties for each false claim submitted. It should be noted that the civil claims resolved by settlement here are allegations only, and that there has been no judicial determination or admission of liability.

The investigation and prosecution of this case was conducted by the Medicaid Investigations Division of the North Carolina Attorney General's Office as part of its continuing efforts to identify and prosecute health care fraud.

About the Medicaid Investigations Division (MID)

The Attorney General's MID investigates and prosecutes health care providers that defraud the Medicaid program, patient abuse of Medicaid recipients, patient abuse of any patient in facilities that receive Medicaid funding, and misappropriation of any patients' private funds in nursing homes that receive Medicaid funding. To date, the MID has recovered more than one billion dollars in restitution and penalties for North Carolina. To report Medicaid fraud or patient abuse in North Carolina, call the MID at 919-881-2320.

The MID receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $8,453,116 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,817,703 for FY 2025, is funded by the State of North Carolina.

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