“Time TV”
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An individual made an unsettling discovery on social media in February 2023 – the girl she’d been seeing for on-line remedy classes wasn’t really a therapist.
As a substitute, the girl, recognized in public data by her initials “TR,” had been masquerading as her spouse, Peggy Randolph, then a licensed scientific social employee, based on an investigative report from the Florida Division of Well being.
Randolph, who offered companies to shoppers in Tennessee and Florida for her employer Brightside Well being, helped her spouse conduct on-line remedy classes utilizing her credentials whereas Randolph was seeing different sufferers in particular person, the report and a settlement settlement between Randolph and the state of Tennessee detailed.
However Randolph’s spouse was not licensed or skilled to supply any form of counseling companies,” based on a settlement settlement between Randolph and the state of Tennessee.
The couple’s “coordinated effort” to defraud sufferers got here to mild when Randolph was taking bereavement go away after her spouse died, the paperwork said.
“Time TV” tracked down an on-line obituary for 58-year-old Tammy Heath-Randolph that lists Peggy Randolph because the deceased’s spouse. Heath-Randolph (TR) died on February 11, 2023, simply weeks earlier than a affected person complained to Brightside.
Randolph “denies figuring out” Heath-Randolph had been conducting remedy classes utilizing her Brightside Well being Therapist Portal log-in credentials, the settlement settlement states.
Nevertheless, Brightside’s inner investigation revealed Randolph had offered these credentials to her spouse who “was seeing all her sufferers and had been for a very long time,” based on the Florida report.
Randolph additionally acquired compensation for the classes her spouse performed, the settlement settlement states.
When she was introduced with {a photograph} displaying Heath-Randolph with one in every of her shoppers and acknowledged that she was her spouse.
Brightside Well being took “swift and decisive motion” as soon as it realized of the breach, a press release offered to “Time TV”.
“We’re extraordinarily disillusioned {that a} single supplier was prepared to violate the belief that Brightside and, most significantly, her sufferers had positioned in her,” the assertion stated.
The impacted sufferers have been totally reimbursed, Brightside Well being stated. The corporate additionally revoked Randolph’s entry to its software program methods instantly after receiving discover of the incident and ended her contract, it stated.
Randolph labored for the corporate from January 2021 till February 2023, based on the settlement, which says she was “assigned to supply remedy classes to lots of of shoppers.” It’s unclear what number of sufferers have been seen by her spouse throughout that point interval.
In an emailed assertion, Brightside spokesperson Hannah Changi informed KFF Well being Information that Brightside couldn’t say what number of sufferers have been seen by Randolph’s spouse “because of the nature of the incident and ongoing authorized proceedings.”
Randolph gave up her license voluntarily in each Florida and Tennessee and in Might was ordered by the state of Tennessee to pay a $1,000 civil penalty inside 12 months.
“Time TV” has reached out to Randolph for remark.
