Updated: Eustasis sued by former employee

Last edited 12:15 p.m., Sept. 9, 2024 [Editor’s note: Information from a Eustasis statement posted to its website after SBJ’s article was published has been added.]

A former employee of Springfield-based Eustasis Psychiatric and Addiction Health has filed suit against the company and its owners, alleging insurance fraud and other claims.

Dr. Daniel Williams, the plaintiff, is representing himself in the lawsuit against Eustasis founders Alok and A. Breanna Jain and Honour Brite LLC. Eustasis Psychiatric and Addiction Health is registered with the Missouri secretary of state's office under Honour Brite LLC.

Williams is seeking roughly $4.2 million in actual and punitive damages in the lawsuit, filed Aug. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Joshua K. Roberts of Roberts & Easley LLC issued a statement to Springfield Business Journal on behalf of Eustasis and the Jains.

"My clients cannot comment on any matter of pending litigation other than to emphatically deny the allegations in the pro se complaint. They look forward to disproving the false allegations in a court of law," the statement reads.

Williams' lawsuit alleges company executives used his name to commit insurance fraud. The suit claims the use of clone documentation, in which Eustasis allegedly stated patients made in-person clinic visits when they did not in order to be paid for ADHD assessments.

"The defendants force Eustasis employees to create false encounter documentation daily and did so under my name," the lawsuit reads, stating the alleged activity has had "a direct, negative impact on my career, professional reputation and future employability."

The suit further alleges that Millennium Health laboratories, operating at Eustasis from December 2023 to February of this year, took "hundreds of patients' protected health care information and has run thousands of unnecessary tests without a doctor's order, and without notifying Eustasis."

"Eustasis has made no effort to notify the patients or their insurance companies about the data breach," Williams alleges in the lawsuit. "Failure to take action to notify Eustasis patients and their insurers about this data breach has resulted in ongoing fraud in the community."

Among other claims in the lawsuit, Williams alleges a hostile working environment that included unpaid work hours and failure to provide health insurance for the first five months of employment.

Eustasis further addressed the lawsuit's claims in a statement on its website after SBJ's article was published Sept. 6.

The statement, in part, alleges the lawsuit was filed "for financial gain from a former employee that does not live in our state."

"We want to apologize for any stress this may have caused our patients as we know trusting your mental health provider is essential," the statement reads. "We have the utmost respect for those seeking mental health care and have made it our company’s mission to ensure care is easily accessible. Anything that may cause a patient or employee to doubt the sincerity of their mental health team goes against our Eustasis core values, which is to provide immediate access to patients without barriers."

The statement further indicates that Alok Jain "has made it his life’s mission to provide safe, ethical and comprehensive care to patients" and that "Eustasis regularly participates in internal and external quality reviews, audits and examinations of our company policies and practices."