ATLANTA, GA – Attorney General Chris Carr today announced that the State of Georgia will receive $1,087,239.67 in restitution and recoveries as part of a settlement agreement with Acadia Healthcare Company (“Acadia”), which owns and operates inpatient behavioral health facilities throughout the U.S. The agreement resolves allegations that Acadia submitted false claims to government healthcare programs, primarily Medicare and Medicaid. 

“The Medicaid program is designed to assist our most vulnerable Georgians, and those seeking care deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” said Carr. “We’re committed to putting a stop to Medicaid fraud in our state, and we will continue to protect taxpayer dollars no matter the amount.” 

The State of Georgia is joined in this settlement by the federal government and the states of Florida, Michigan and Nevada. The allegations concern certain Acadia facilities in each state, including Lakeview Behavioral Health in Norcross, Georgia and Riverwoods Behavioral Health System in Riverdale, Georgia. 

Specifically, the State of Georgia contended that, between Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 31, 2017, the Acadia facilities:

  • Admitted patients to the facility who were not eligible for inpatient treatment; 
  • Failed to discharge patients who no longer needed inpatient care and allowed for excessive lengths of inpatient stays; 
  • Failed to provide adequate staffing, training and supervision of staff, resulting in assaults, elopements, suicides and other patient harm; and 
  • Failed to provide inpatient care per federal and state regulations, including but not limited to failure to develop individual treatment plans, failure to provide active treatment including individual and group therapy, and failure to provide adequate discharge planning.

Under the civil settlement agreement, Acadia will pay a total of $19.85 million dollars, plus interest, of which $6,372,165 will go to Medicaid programs. 

The investigation and settlement resulted from two whistleblower actions filed in April 2017 in the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Tennessee and the Middle District of Florida under the federal False Claims Act and other various state false claims statutes.

A National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) Team participated in the investigation and settlement negotiations on behalf of the states. The Team included representatives from the Offices of the Attorneys General for the states of Georgia, Florida, Michigan and Nevada. Georgia was represented by Senior Assistant Attorney General Sara Vann.

About the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Division

Since Attorney General Chris Carr first took office, his Medicaid Fraud Division has secured more than 90 convictions for Medicaid fraud and the abuse, neglect and exploitation of older adults, resulting in over $19 million in restitution orders in criminal matters. Over this same period, Carr’s Medicaid Fraud Division has obtained civil settlements and judgements totaling more than $108 million as a result of its efforts to safeguard the Georgia Medicaid program.

The Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $5,180,400 for Federal FY 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $1,726,800, is funded by the State of Georgia.