Michigan psychologist pleads guilty to health care fraud

June 29, 2017

On June 22, 2017, George E. Compton Jr., a psychologist from Sturgis, Michigan, pleaded guilty to defrauding health care benefit programs of at least $250,000 over a three-year period.

According to information from the Department of Justice, "Compton regularly billed his patients' health care benefit programs for counseling sessions that grossly exceeded the number of actual counseling sessions that he provided."  At one point he billed for counseling sessions with a patient who was actually in an induced coma.

On the occasions when his patients or the health care benefit programs noticed the excess billings, Comptom would claim they were a result of a honest mistake or the automated billing functions of his billing software.

At sentencing, he faces a maximum prison term of 10 years, a fine of up to twice the amount of the gross gain from his fraud, and he will be ordered to make restitution to his victims. 

SOURCE: Al Jones, "$250K in false billings by psychologist included fee for man in coma," Kalamazoo News, 22 Jun 2017, http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2017/06/250k_in_false_billings_by_psyc.html; "Psychologist George E. Compton Jr. Of Sturgis Pleads Guilty To Health Care Fraud," Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office Western District of Michigan, 22 Jun 2017, https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/pr/2017_0622_Compton.