Dr. Bryan Hyatt, chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board, is under investigation for Medicaid and Medicare fraud, the Arkansas Advocate reports.
State health officials suspended all Medicaid payments to Board Chairman Dr. Brian Hyatt on Friday after determining there was a “credible allegation of fraud,” according to a letter obtained in a public records request.
A search warrant for Hyatt’s phone records, also obtained by the Advocate under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, provides a list of allegations against the Northwest Arkansas psychiatrist being investigated by Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office.
Chiefly, the warrant affidavit states that Hyatt appeared to consistently bill Medicaid for the highest level of patient severity — and therefore the highest reimbursement rate — without seeing those patients face-to-face.
Investigators pointed to interviews with Hyatt’s staff at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale (His contract at the hospital was “abruptly terminated” in May, per state records) and a review of hundreds of hours of video footage of Hyatt’s movements through the hospital.
Hyatt was appointed to the State Medical Board by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson in 2019.