Rita Ntusa Anagho, 54, of San Tan Valley, Ariz., was sentenced to 14 years in prison for charges connected to fraudulently billing Arizona’s Medicaid agency more than $69 million in less than one year for addiction treatment therapy. Anagho’s fraud is part of a mass sober living home scheme that targeted Native Americans, left thousands missing and dead, and cost Arizona taxpayers billions.
Anagho owned and operated Tusa Integrated Clinic LLC, an addiction treatment center that fraudulently billed the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) more than $69 million from about May 2022 through March 2023 for behavioral health services that were never provided or were not provided as billed. Most of the patients in the fraudulent claims were Native American and had health care coverage through the AHCCCS American Indian Health Program fee-for-service plan. AHCCCS paid Tusa approximately $54.9 million based on the false claims.
According to court documents, Anagho paid bribes to owners of other sober homes that referred patients to her clinic — an illegal practice known as patient brokering — and wrote fake notes on therapy sessions that were never provided for patients…