PARKERSBURG — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office has filed a lawsuit against a Parkersburg substance abuse treatment facility alleging it filed bogus claims to the state’s Medicaid program.
In addition, a former employee of the facility has been indicted by a Wood County grand jury on two felony counts of Medicaid fraud and fraudulent schemes.
Morrisey made the announcement October 23 during a morning press conference at the Wood County Courthouse.
“These are serious allegations and we intend to prosecute this civil action to the fullest extent of the law,” Morrisey said. “We will keep working to bring to justice anyone who tries to defraud programs that serve as valuable resources to West Virginians.”
The complaint, filed on behalf of the West Virginia Department of Human Services (formerly the Department of Health and Human Resources) says Clean & Clear Advantage’s substance abuse treatment center in Parkersburg submitted fraudulent claims to the state’s Medicaid program from May 2021 to January 2022. Clean & Clear Advantage is based in Brooklyn, New York.
Those claims were for services allegedly rendered to 52 patients by Clifford Marlowe, who it says was not qualified to provide such services. Marlowe is the former employee indicted by the grand jury. Marlowe did not have the required degree and was not a licensed master-level therapist. He also did not hold a healthcare license from the state.
The claims totaled $78,889.92, and the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit is seeking three times that amount in the lawsuit against the facility.
The complaint accuses Clean & Clear Advantage of fraud by billing for services rendered by Marlowe and fraud by reverse false claims. It does say the company fired Marlowe on January 31, 2022 because he lacked the educational qualifications the state Medicaid Program required for the company to be reimbursed for the services rendered on behalf of patients.
It also says Clean & Clear Advantage sent a check to the state for the $78,889.92 on September 6 along with a form saying it was “self-reporting” the overpayments. That check hasn’t been cashed yet.
In addition to the $236,669.76, the state also seeks attorney fees, investigative fees, court costs and other relief.
The complaint was filed by Deputy Attorney General John C. Blair and Assistant Attorney General Stephen M. Kenney, both with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Robert A. Waters.
Wood Circuit Court case number 24-C-361