AIM CenterA Chattanooga mental health facility has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle federal and state allegations that it made fraudulent claims to the state’s Medicaid program over a three-year period.
The settlement, reached last week, ends a lengthy state and federal investigation into billing practices at the AIM Center, a nonprofit organization at 472 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. that offers a range of rehabilitative services to the mentally ill.
The investigation began in 2011, when a former AIM Center member filed a whistle-blower lawsuit alleging the facility was improperly billing TennCare for 52 visits — none of which involved the kind of care approved for Medicaid reimbursement.
Government officials later claimed that from 2009 to 2012, AIM Center made a series of false Medicaid claims by knowingly overcharging for services it provided to members insured through TennCare.
AIM Center president Rodney Battles maintains that its billings to TennCare were in line with the center’s contract with the state.