Lebanon psychologist indicted in $1.3M fraud scheme

Rhett McCarty, a psychologist practicing in Lebanon, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for engaging in a $1.3 million scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid.

McCarty, a private practitioner who provided psychotherapy services to recipients of both Medicare and Medicaid in their homes in the Lebanon area, submitted claims for at least 19 beneficiaries for which he was paid $1,276,334, according to a May 25 news release from David Ketchmark, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Claims submitted by McCarty allege he routinely saw beneficiaries seven days per week from mid-September 2008 through April 2012, but those interviewed by investigators said McCarty did not see them for therapy more than once a week and often much less frequently, according to the release. In one case, the indictment alleges that McCarty received more than $100,000 for a patient he saw only one time, the release said.

The indictment, issued by a grand jury in Kansas City, includes charges of forgery – for falsifying signatures from beneficiaries – and forfeiture, which would require McCarty to forfeit to the government any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged offenses.

The case, which was investigated by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lucinda Woolery.

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