Lawsuit filed by former Mountain Comprehensive Care employee

By Roberta Cantrell
BSN Editor

A former chief financial officer has filed a law suit in Floyd County Circuit Court against her former workplace citing it was a hostile work environment.

Rebeckah Hall, a 26-year employee of Mountain Comprehensive Care filed the complaint Jan. 23, against the organization and its subsidiary, Mountain Plus Services.

Hall claimed in the lawsuit that she was subjected to a hostile work environment after she refused to falsify billing codes. In her complaint, she claims her supervisors, including CEO Promod Bishnoi, instructed her to submit false billing codes to generate more revenue for the organization. The allegations that Hall made in her complaint stated she was told to bill for services provided at a federally-qualified health center, when services were provided at a different location, refraining from engaging with Medicaid and Medicare for inquiries or clarification of charges identified by Bishnoi as billable, billing for services under the credentials of a licensed provider when they were not rendered by a licensed provider, not correcting billing codes after the Covid pandemic to reflect that services were provided as “audio only,” and change billing locations despite being told by the Financial and Billing departments that the action violated state law.

Also in her complaint, Hall says she reported her concerns to the board of directors which caused her to be subjected to retaliation, creating a hostile work environment.

Hall resigned from her position on Dec. 5, which her complaint categorizes as a “constructive termination.” In legal terms, a constructive termination is a situation when an employee is forced to quit due to an employer creating intolerable working conditions.

In her letter of resignation that is included with the lawsuit Hall wrote:

“As you are aware, I filed a formal complaint to the Board of Directors reporting fraudulent billing activity that was requested by the CEO. Once the actions were not being taken through my department (as instructed by me), the CEO went through other Program directors and staff to make this happen. It was my ethical duty to report this as the CFO. Since this time, the retaliation toward myself and my department has been severe. I have been harassed to the point that I am unable to function in such an intimidating/hostile work environment.”

MCC has not answered to the lawsuit or made any comments to the allegations.