Quincy Woman Arraigned on Additional Charges in Connection with Collecting Thousands from Fraudulent Billing Practices

DEDHAM — A Quincy woman who owns a substance use treatment center was arraigned on additional charges in connection with a fraudulent scheme to bill public and private insurance for behavioral health services that were never provided to patients.

Nicole Kasimatis, age 47, was arraigned on Tuesday in Norfolk Superior Court on one count each of the charges of Larceny over $1200 and Filing a False Health Care Claim. Judge Beverly Cannone set bail at $25,000 with the conditions of home confinement with GPS monitoring, no travel, no contact with witnesses, and restricting Kasimatis from

billing public or private health insurance or providing services that could be reimbursed by public or private health insurance. A Norfolk County Grand Jury indicted Kasimatis on the charges last month.

These additional charges are the result of an investigation by AG Healey’s Medicaid Fraud Division into Kasimatis’ billing practices following a referral from the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office. The new charges allege that, between January 2019 and February 2021, Kasimatis, as owner and operator of Fortitude Counseling, engaged in widespread fraud by billing Medicare for services that were not performed. Kasimatis billed Medicare approximately $151,000 for these allegedly fraudulent services and was paid approximately $44,000 for these false claims.   

This arraignment follows six charges brought against Kasimatis last November, when she was indicted and arraigned on the charges of Medicaid False Claims (2 counts), Larceny over $1,200 (2 counts), Filing a False Health Care Claim (1 count), and Common and Notorious Thief (1 count). In November, Judge Douglas Wilkins held her on a $100,000 cash bail with the same conditions. Kasimatis is due back in Norfolk Superior Court for a pretrial conference on February 25.

According to the AG’s investigation, Kasimatis used the funds she obtained from Medicaid and Medicare for her own 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. In 2015 and 2018, Kasimatis was indicted by the Norfolk DA’s Office for public assistance fraud and larceny and pleaded guilty in Norfolk Superior Court in November 2020. She is currently on probation for those charges until November 2025.

All of these charges are allegations and defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General William Champlin, Senior Trial Counsel Elisha Willis, Senior Health Care Fraud Investigator Andrew Lutynski, and Investigator Vanessa Asiatidis of AG Healey’s Medicaid Fraud Division, with significant assistance from the Insurance Fraud Bureau, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, and MassHealth.

The AG’s Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award. The remaining 25 percent is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.