CT dentists enter civil agreement totaling almost $650K to resolve ‘kickback' allegations

Yahoo

10-05-2025

Multiple dentists in Norwalk have entered into a civil agreement with the state and federal governments to resolve allegations that they paid kickbacks to a patient recruiting company.
The civil settlement agreements, announced Friday, resolve allegations of violations of the federal and state False Claims Acts against Advanced Dental Center PC and its owners Tal Yossefi and Elad Yossefi, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut and the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General. As part of the agreement, Advanced Dental paid $495,721 to reimburse the Medicaid program.
According to officials, Advanced Dental is enrolled in the Connecticut Medical Assistance Program (CMAP), which includes the Connecticut Medicaid program. Between July and December 2018, the dentistry is alleged to have paid a third-party patient recruiting company $120 for each Connecticut Medicaid patient the company referred to them whenever a patient received dental services above routine preventative care.
Authorities said the practice is prohibited by the federal anti-kickback statute, the CMAP provider agreement and the Connecticut Dental Health Partnership provider manual.
'Paying kickbacks for patient recruitment is illegal,' Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. 'Dentists participating in Connecticut's public healthcare programs are responsible for knowing the law.'
'This is the fourth settlement arising from ongoing joint investigations, and we will continue to work closely with our state and federal partners to aggressively protect the integrity of our public healthcare programs,' Tong said.
Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office noted that Nazneen Jaffri, a dental provider formerly licensed in Connecticut who operated a practice in Norwalk, also agreed to reimburse the Medicaid program $150,000 for allegations stemming from January 2019 to April 2021. Officials said the reimbursement resolved allegations that she violated the False Claims Act by submitting or 'causing to be submitted' claims to CTMAP for dental services rendered to Connecticut Medicaid patients referred by a third-party patient recruiting company.
'In entering into their respective civil settlement agreements, the providers and their practices did not admit liability,' the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.