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VietnameseGriffin: ‘Medicaid fraud takes several forms, and my office is committed to fighting it on behalf of hardworking taxpayers’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today announced Arkansas’s Medicaid Program will receive $191,050.63 as part of a $25 million national settlement with Lincare Holdings, Inc., over alleged false Medicaid billing for Noninvasive Home Ventilation (NIV) devices and issued the following statement:
“It is alleged that from January 2013 to February 2020, Lincare violated federal and state laws by knowingly submitting false claims for payment to the Medicaid program for NIV rentals. For these false claims, the devices were not medically necessary or Lincare did not maintain sufficient documentation to show continued use or need by patients.
“I am grateful for the diligence of Senior Assistant Attorney General Holly Johnson, who worked with the lead states from the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) that investigated this matter in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Medicaid fraud takes several forms, and my office is committed to fighting it on behalf of hardworking taxpayers.”
Under the settlement agreement, Lincare will pay $25 million, plus interest, to the United States, the District of Columbia and 29 states to resolve the allegations that Lincare improperly sought and received monthly reimbursements for NIV rentals under the federal False Claims Act and comparable state statutes.
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About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
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