New Jersey psychiatrist sentenced to three years prison for fraud

December 2, 2010

On November 29, 2010, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General announced that psychiatrist Arnold Jacques was sentenced to three years in state prison for conspiracy to defraud the Medicaid and Medicare programs. 

Jacques is the former medical director of the now-defunct Chambers Mental Health Clinic, which was located in Trenton, New Jersey. 

On September 8, Jacques entered a plea of guilty to second-degree conspiracy, second-degree health care claims fraud and third-degree Medicaid fraud.  In his plea, he admitted that between January 2004 and November 2005, he conspired with the two co-owners of Chambers Mental Health Clinic to fraudulently overbill Medicaid and Medicare. 

All three defendants filed claims for reimbursement under Jacques’ Medicaid/Medicare provider numbers even though he did not personally provide to services that were billed for.  They also billed for longer counseling sessions than were actually provided, billed for family counseling in addition to individual counseling services for the same patient in the same day and billed for counseling services which were not provided at all, resulting in nearly $50,000 in reimbursements to which they were not entitled. 

In addition to his prison sentence, Jacques is required to pay $49,941 in restitution to the Medicaid and Medicare programs.

Source: “Medical director of defunct Mercer County mental health clinic sentenced for defrauding the Medicaid & Medicare programs,” press release of the New Jersey Department of Law & Safety Office of the Attorney General, November 29, 2010.