Columbus Doctor and Clinic Manager Admit to a $1.6 Million Telehealth Medicaid Fraud

A Columbus clinic billed Ohio's Medicaid program for more than 27,000 telehealth visits that never happened, and the two people behind it have now admitted it. On October 19, 2026, Dr. Patrick Muffley and his office manager, Lisa Fillhart, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a scheme the Ohio Attorney General's office valued at just over $1.6 million. The case shows how telehealth billing, where no in-person visit takes place, can be exploited, and how the digital record of who actually logged in helped expose it.

What happened

Muffley, 56, of Lewis Center, pleaded guilty to felony theft and Medicaid fraud through a bill of information filed in Franklin County. Fillhart, 61, of Lima, the clinic's office manager, pleaded guilty in a separate bill of information to Medicaid fraud and unlicensed practice of nursing. Both pleas were entered on October 19, 2026. A bill of information is a charging document a defendant agrees to face without a grand jury indictment, and it usually signals a negotiated plea rather than a contested case.

The clinic at the center of the case, Embody Wellness Obstetrics and Gynecology on Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, primarily provided addiction management services. The Ohio Department of Medicaid suspended Muffley's provider agreement in September 2026, and a notice on the clinic's website says the practice will close in the coming weeks.

How the billing scheme worked

According to the Attorney General's office, the clinic submitted more than 27,000 Medicaid claims for telehealth services that were never provided between January 2021 and March 2026. The fraudulent billing caused a loss of $1,645,052 to the state Medicaid program, which pays for care for low-income Ohioans.

What tied the claims to specific days was the telehealth platform's own records. Investigators said many of the billed visits fell on dates when Muffley never logged into the telehealth portal, meaning no visit could have taken place. To support the claims, prosecutors said, Muffley falsified appointment records. Telehealth leaves a timestamped login trail that a paper appointment book does not, and in this case that trail is what contradicted the billing.

The unlicensed nursing count

Fillhart's case carried a second charge beyond the fraud. The Attorney General's office said she presented herself as a nurse and gave medical advice to the clinic's patients despite having no nursing license. She pleaded guilty to unlicensed practice of nursing alongside the Medicaid fraud count. That piece of the case is a reminder that a clinic's billing problems and its clinical staffing problems can be the same story.

Who investigated and how it surfaced

The case was investigated by the Ohio Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which looks into providers accused of stealing from the state program. The unit opened its inquiry after a referral from the Ohio Auditor of State's office. Attorneys with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit are prosecuting the case in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Attorney General Andy Wilson said, "These defendants schemed to steal Medicaid dollars intended to help Ohioans in need."

Sentencing and restitution

Fillhart was sentenced on October 19 to 12 months of community control, a form of supervised release. If she violates its terms, she faces a possible 18-month prison sentence. Muffley has agreed to pay restitution before his sentencing, which is scheduled for January 14, 2027. The amount of prison time he faces, if any, will be decided at that hearing, so the ultimate penalty in his case is still pending.

Why telehealth billing draws fraud scrutiny

Telehealth removed the in-person visit that once anchored a billing claim to a real place and time, and enforcement agencies have treated that shift as a pressure point. State Medicaid Fraud Control Units and federal prosecutors have brought a steady run of cases built on the same core allegation: a provider billed public insurance for telehealth encounters that the records show did not occur. The platforms that make remote care possible also generate the login and access logs that let investigators test a claim against what actually happened.

• The alleged tell here was simple: visits billed on days the clinician was never in the system.
• A referral from a state auditor, not a patient complaint, started the inquiry, which is a common path for Medicaid cases.
• Pleas by bill of information, rather than a trial, resolve many of these matters.

What it means for patients and the clinic's clients

This is general information, not medical or legal advice. For the patients who relied on Embody Wellness for addiction care, the practical consequence is that the clinic is closing and the physician's Medicaid participation has already been suspended, so anyone receiving treatment there will need a new provider. People who were patients can ask the Ohio Department of Medicaid or a licensed clinician for help transferring care and prescriptions, and should not stop addiction treatment abruptly without medical guidance. The guilty pleas do not say that any patient was denied legitimate care they did receive; the charges concern visits that were billed but, according to prosecutors, never took place.

What we do not yet know

The sentence Muffley will receive is not set, and the restitution figure he will pay has not been published. The court records available so far describe the charges and the pleas, not the full internal workings of the clinic or how the billing was generated day to day. As with any case resolved by plea, the agreed facts are those the defendants admitted, and the prosecution's account of the scheme has not been tested at trial.