A New Britain optician has agreed to pay more than $263,000 to resolve claims she fraudulently billed patients for certain services, prosecutors say.
Carol Ann Sanderson, owner of Your Eyes of New Britain Inc., on Tuesday entered into a civil settlement with the federal and state governments to resolve false claims allegations for conduct occurring between Jan. 2014 and April 2019, according to the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s Office and Attorney General William Tong.
According to investigators, Sanderson, who operates the optometry facility at 198 East Main St., in those five-plus years improperly submitted claims to Medicaid when dispensing new glasses by billing for an initial fitting and for a repair. But Sanderson was not providing repair services.
Instead, she offered final adjustments to the glasses, which was a service already included in the initial fitting, prosecutors say.
Federal and state prosecutors alleged that these claims for repairs, or final adjustments, constituted false claims submitted to the Medicaid program. As a result, Your Eyes and Sanderson have agreed to pay $263,488 to resolve the issue.
The case was investigated by Tong’s office and the Office of the Inspector General for the Connecticut Department of Health and Human Services.
