Oxford Center CEO Tamela Peterson, 59, attended the beginnings of a preliminary examination for healthcare fraud in Livingston County on May 29.
Peterson was arraigned in 53rd District Court in January on nine charges of healthcare fraud for alleged false claims at the organization’s center in Brighton. She’s also one of three people facing a second-degree murder charge in Oakland County’s 52-4 District Court for the hyperbaric chamber death of five-year-old Thomas Cooper.
During a preliminary examination, witnesses are called and arguments are presented to help the judge determine whether there’s enough evidence to bind the case over to circuit court.
Three witnesses testified May 29, including one former employee and two mothers of patients.
‘The emotional toll … became too much’
The first witness, Victoria Dunn, was an occupational therapist at The Oxford Center in Brighton between June 2021 and June 2022.
In that time, according to her testimony, Dunn became increasingly concerned with how treatment was being billed, in addition to overservicing and understaffing. In the final months of her employment, she said, the organization began hosting group treatment sessions with roughly 5-6 children and 1-2 employees.
Dunn said therapists weren’t allowed input on the composition of the groups, which led to challenges — such as lacking an appropriate technician for certain clients.
Dunn testified she wasn’t involved in the billing process but wrote separate notes for each client — rather than one for the whole group. Separately, she testified that Peterson allegedly pushed for 60-minute therapy sessions even when they weren’t beneficial to clients. She said frequent sessions, sometimes as many as 4-5 per week, were also encouraged.
“By the end of my time at Oxford, I had nothing left to say,” Dunn said. “Any complaints fell on deaf ears and the emotional toll was just … it became too much for me.”
Dunn was surprised to learn she was listed as providing services for 23 patients on June 10, 2022, with a procedure code that described one-on-one contact with patients and billed for $600-$900. Dunn said that description was inaccurate for what was actually provided.
Billed for services that never happened
Two mothers also testified May 29, both of whom were involved in a previous case against Kimberly Coden — a former director at The Oxford Center who was sentenced to prison for unauthorized practice of a health profession and identity theft in April.
The first mother, Daisie Scharmen, testified her son was a patient between 2019 and 2020. She confirmed receiving family-adapted treatments, when she would meet with her son’s provider to discuss his progress. She didn’t meet with the provider on Jan. 17, 2020, but was billed anyway. According to her testimony, she was on a cruise at the time.
The second mother, Kim Harden, said her daughter was also a patient between 2019 and 2020. Harden testified she kept detailed notes on her daughter’s treatment, and therefore knows she didn’t receive caregiver training on March 2, 2020 — despite being billed for it.
The examination is expected to continue later this summer.
— Contact reporter Tess Ware at tware@livingstondaily.com.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Oxford Center employee testifies about long, frequent therapy sessions
Reporting by Tess Ware, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
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