Woman charged with Medicaid fraud 4 times pleads guilty

Nicole Kasimatis, 48, of Quincy, the owner of Fortitude Counseling and Recovery Center in Quincy, pleaded guilty in Norfolk Superior Court to three counts of larceny over $1,200, two counts of filing a false health care claim and two counts of filing false Medicaid claims.

Judge Peter Krupp ordered her to serve three to four years in state prison followed by three years of probation with the conditions that she pay restitution, not work for a MassHealth provider and not bill MassHealth for services. She must also stay in Massachusetts and forfeit any passports, and stay away from and have no contact with named witnesses. The restitution amount has not been determined.

Attorney General Maura Healey's Medicaid Fraud Division began an investigation into Kasimatis' billing practices in 2019, following a referral from the Insurance Fraud Bureau and the Norfolk County district attorney's office.

In November 2021, Kasimatis was arrested and arraigned on charges of defrauding MassHealth of nearly $500,000 by billing for substance use disorder and other mental health services she did not perform. Prosecutors say she also billed for services not rendered by licensed or supervised Fortitude employees and for services under the name and number of providers who no longer worked for her.

In January 2022, Kasimatis was arraigned on additional charges for filing false Medicare claims for services not rendered and getting paid about $44,000. Kasimatis was also indicted in 2015 and 2018 in two other cases on charges including public assistance fraud, larceny, document forgery and uttering a false money order.

Kasimatis used the money from her schemes for her personal use, including paying for international travel, Disney trips, Red Sox games, baseball camps for her children, weight loss services and even to post bail for her prior criminal charges, Healey's office said.

"This defendant had a responsibility to provide patients with critical behavioral health services, but she instead chose to defraud the system for her own personal gain," Healey said in a statement. "We are grateful to our partners in this case for working with us to hold this defendant accountable for her crimes and to protect our state resources from these schemes."

Following her guilty plea, Kasmatis' probation from previous cases was revoked, and she was sentenced to two to three years in state prison to run concurrently with her three- to four-year prison sentence.

Reach Mary Whitfill at [email protected].