LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced her support of President Donald J. Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General William Barr.

“William Barr has a proven track record as the former Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “Barr is a committed public servant. In addition to work with the Department of Justice, he served in the Central Intelligence Agency and on the domestic policy staff at the Reagan White House. Barr’s experience and values make him the right fit for Attorney General.”

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced the arrest of a Garland County man for Medicaid fraud. This arrest is in connection to an arrest made in November of Tonashae Echols, 33, of Hot Springs.

James E. Heritage II, 36, of Hot Springs was in charge of billing for Little Bitty City Therapeutic Services, and is accused of billing private insurance companies as well as the Medicaid program for services not rendered. According to the affidavit, Heritage lied about services therapists were providing and billed Medicaid for 693 claims, totaling $56,338.40 between October 1, 2016 and April 30, 2017. He is charged in Pulaski County with one count of Medicaid fraud, a Class B felony.

“Heritage is accused of stealing from insurance providers and the Medicaid program, which is a safety net for many Arkansans,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “I will not tolerate this deceptive behavior from those who should be committed to helping children.”

Heritage is the brother of Echols, who was arrested in November as the Therapy Manager of Little Bitty City Therapeutic Services. Echols is accused of making false statements regarding her family’s income in order to receive Medicaid benefits for her children, and billing Medicaid through the business for services provided to her children from November 2015 through July 2017. She has been charged with one count of Medicaid fraud, a Class B felony.

Medicaid fraud occurs when providers use the Medicaid program to obtain money to which they are not entitled. To report Medicaid fraud or abuse or neglect in residential care facilities, contact the Attorney General’s Medicaid fraud hotline at (866) 810-0016 or oag@arkansasag.gov.

More than 54,000 Arkansans affected

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced that she, along with 11 other states, has filed a complaint against Medical Informatics Engineering Inc. (MIE) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. MIE and NoMoreClipboard LLC are web-based health record companies headquartered in Indiana who are accused of failing to protect patient user data.

“Arkansans put their trust in medical professionals across the state, who then trust data companies to protect the personal information of patients,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “Medical Informatics did not provide that security and put the personal information of Arkansans at risk. It is important that data storage companies maintain the highest level of protections against hackers.”

The complaint alleges that MIE failed to implement basic industry-accepted data security measures to protect individual’s health information from unauthorized access, in part, by using generic accounts that could be accessed through the use of a shared password. The company violated provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as violations of state deceptive trade practices law, notice of data breach statutes and personal information protection acts.

Between May 7, 2015 and May 26, 2015, hackers infiltrated WebChart, a web application run by MIE. The hackers stole the electronic health information of more than 3.9 million individuals, including names, telephone numbers, mailing addresses, usernames, passwords, security questions and answers, spousal information, email addresses, date of birth, social security numbers, lab results, health insurance policy information, diagnosis, disability codes, doctors’ names, medical conditions, and children's names and birth statistics.

The data breach affected 54,356 Arkansans.

This filing marks the first time state attorneys general have joined together to pursue a HIPAA-related data breach case in federal court.

In addition to Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina and Wisconsin filed the complaint.

Arkansans to receive more than $410,000 in debt relief

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today announced that Arkansas has joined 42 other states and the District of Columbia in an agreement to settle illegal debt-collection practice accusations against Midland Funding.

“I want companies like Midland to think twice before using these tactics in Arkansas,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “This settlement will make Arkansans whole after Midland violated both Arkansas and federal law through its deceptive practices.”

Between 2003 and 2009, Midland engaged in various debt-collection activities that harmed Arkansans, such as filing false affidavits in court proceedings, failing to verify debts as requested by consumers, attempting to collect debts that are legally unenforceable and signing affidavits of debts owed without reviewing the account. The settlement affirms that Midland is required to follow all Arkansas and federal debt-collection laws.

As part of the settlement, Midland will eliminate or reduce the judgment balances of more than 300 Arkansans, totaling about $410,000, in cases where Midland used an affidavit against them in court between 2003 and 2009. Midland will notify impacted consumers by mail of the balance reduction and no further action is necessary from the consumer. In addition, Midland will set aside $25,000 per state to compensate consumers who may have paid Midland money they did not owe.

Says, ‘NorthStar violated Arkansas law and took advantage of consumers’

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and NorthStar Alarm Services LLC have reached a settlement to resolve allegations that NorthStar violated the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Home Solicitation Sales Act. The company’s representatives engaged in unlawful and high pressure door-to-door sales tactics, which included misrepresenting its affiliation with other alarm companies and failing to disclose the length and cost of service contracts. NorthStar also routinely failed to provide consumers with a three-day notice to cancel services as required by Arkansas law and unlawfully renewed contracts automatically or made it difficult for consumers to terminate their contract.

“NorthStar violated Arkansas law and took advantage of consumers,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “Arkansas law prescribes specific protections for consumers in door-to-door sales transactions. NorthStar representatives ignored those safeguards and used dishonest sales tactics to entice some Arkansans to purchase a home alarm system. This type of deceptive behavior will not be tolerated in Arkansas.”

The Agreed Order, which was filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, enjoins NorthStar from future unlawful sales tactics and includes $19,960.89 in restitution to affected consumers and payment of up to $180,000 to the state.

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge today released the following statement after the announcement of the passing of the 41st President of the United States, President George H.W. Bush.

“Today, Americans mourn the loss of a great warrior and public servant,” said Attorney General Rutledge. “President George H.W. Bush was dedicated to serving all Americans throughout his career, but most importantly he was a beloved family man. I am sending prayers of comfort to the entire Bush family and as Americans, we mourn a great man.”