Brian T. Hyatt

5 News
Hospital agrees to pay $1.1 million in Medicaid fraud settlement connected to Dr. Hyatt
By 5NEWS Web Staff
May 1, 2023

— Excerpt

SPRINGDALE, Arkansas — Northwest Health has reached a settlement with the Arkansas Attorney General’s office after an investigation found evidence claiming Dr. Brian Hyatt, former head of the behavioral unit in Springdale, had committed extensive Medicaid fraud.

Dr. Hyatt stepped down from his role as chair of the Arkansas State Medical Board after he was accused in an affidavit by investigators with the AG’s office.

Hyatt, formerly the chairman of the state medical board, said in an email on March 1, 2023, that he would like to “step aside” as chairman and “move to a non-executive committee, voting member… until standing issues resolve.”…

The investigation notes that between Jan. 1, 2019, and May 2022, 99.95% of Dr. Hyatt’s claims for Medicaid were billed under the highest code, which receives the most amount of Medicaid payment from the state…

While going over months of surveillance video of the behavioral unit while Hyatt was the director there, the investigator said that after reviewing hundreds of hours and several days of footage, at no point did they see Dr. Hyatt enter a patient’s room or have contact with a patient, only him walk up and down the hall.

Dr. Hyatt also is facing nearly a dozen lawsuits in civil court claiming false imprisonment and other accusations relating to allegedly keeping them in the behavior unit as long as possible in order to obtain more Medicaid funding…