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Warwick clinical social worker sentenced for defrauding patients, insurers out of more than $3.5M

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PBN Staff

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03/05/2025

7eRk9YJQ-4wCRtzIk-fedcourt — MI OK SONG Bruining, 63, of Warwick, has been sentenced to three years of supervised release for her role in a scheme that defrauded substance abuse disorder patients out of treatment services as well as insurers out of more than $3.5 million, Acting U.S. attorney for Rhode Island Sara Miron Bloom announced Wednesday. / COURTESY U.S. DISTRICT COURT

PROVIDENCE – A local clinical social worker has been sentenced to three years of supervised release for her role in a scheme that defrauded substance abuse disorder patients out of treatment services and insurers out of more than $3.5 million, Acting U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Sara Miron Bloom announced Wednesday. Mi Ok Song Bruining,

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PROVIDENCE – A local clinical social worker has been sentenced to three years of supervised release for her role in a scheme that defrauded substance abuse disorder patients out of treatment services and insurers out of more than $3.5 million, Acting U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Sara Miron Bloom announced Wednesday. Mi Ok Song Bruining, 63, of Warwick, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to a charge of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. She admitted to routinely submitting false and fraudulent claims for psychotherapy and counseling services that did not match the length of time billed. She also admitted to consistently charging for far more patients than what was possible to see in a single day while employed as a supervisor at Recovery Connections of America in Providence. Bruining was known as the “Five-Minute Queen” at work for how quickly she saw patients, stated she would bill for 45-minute sessions but actually saw patients for no more than five to 10 minutes and sometimes only asked them a single question before ending the visit. To accomplish this, Bruining would direct counselors and other employees to record that they were providing 45-minute counseling sessions, but to not list a.m. or p.m. in the start time so it wasn’t clear they were seeing more patients than is possible in a single hour, according to information presented to the court. Bruining had also instructed other counselors to copy and paste the last visit’s note into each entry so that the bill would look complete. This meant that many the notes of patients’ billed by the center were identical copies. Bruining defrauded a variety of federal, state and private health care insurers, including Medicare and Medicaid, according to court documents. Bruining was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Court Mary S. McElroy to three years of supervised release, the first three months to be served in home detention with electronic monitoring, 100 hours of community service and pay restitution in the amount of $100,000. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bloom and Kevin Love Hubbard.