Press Release: 11/4/2025

AG's Office Secures $175,000 from Fall River Pediatrician for Submitting False Claims to MassHealth

 

Dr. Ali Tural Submitted Claims For Services Provided By Midlevel Practitioners as Though He Had Provided Them

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

11/04/2025

 

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Dr. Ali Tural and his company Tural Pediatrics, Inc. – a Fall River-based pediatric group – to resolve allegations that Dr. Tural submitted false claims for services he purportedly provided to MassHealth members, that were actually provided by midlevel practitioners such as physician assistants and certified nurse practitioners.  

Under the terms of the agreement, Dr. Tural and his company will pay $175,000 and agree to a three-year independent compliance monitoring program at his expense. The monitoring program will result in updated policies and procedures, annual training on federal and state laws, rules, and regulations governing physicians and group practice organizations, and annual audits, where the results will be reported to the AGO.  

MassHealth allows for services provided by midlevel practitioners such as physician assistants and certified nurse practitioners, as long as those services are provided under the supervision of a physician. However, when a physician assistant or nurse practitioner provides the service, MassHealth only pays at a rate of eighty-five (85%) percent of the fee paid for a physician’s services.  According to the AGO, from January 1, 2019 through January 1, 2025, Dr. Tural submitted claims to MassHealth that indicated that he was the provider, even when he had not provided the service. 

The AGO’s investigation initiated with a referral from MassHealth. 

This case was investigated and prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Mary-Ellen Kennedy, Investigator Julia Galvao, and Assistant Investigators Keira Cooney and Maria Theoharis, all of the AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division. MassHealth provided substantial assistance with the investigation. 

The AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division is a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, annually certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and prosecute health care providers who defraud the state’s Medicaid program, MassHealth. The Medicaid Fraud Division also has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute complaints of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of residents in long-term care facilities and of Medicaid patients in any health care setting. Individuals may file a MassHealth fraud complaint or report cases of abuse or neglect of Medicaid patients or long-term care residents by visiting the AGO’s website.    

 The Massachusetts Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $6,458,176 for federal fiscal year 2026. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $2,152,724 for FY 2026, is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.