Psychologist Keenan Ferrell and Employee Bryce Woods Sentenced for Billing Medicare for Nursing-Home Therapy He Never Gave

Case from 2015 (U.S. Attorney's Office release: Feb. 23, 2015). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Bryce Woods, an employee of Take Action Inc. and Inner Arts Inc., companies that claimed to provide psychotherapy to nursing-home residents in the Chicago area, was sentenced on Feb. 23, 2015, to 70 months in federal prison for submitting more than $1.5 million in false Medicare claims, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced [1]. The companies' owner, licensed psychologist Keenan R. Ferrell, had been sentenced to 88 months in August 2014.

How the scheme worked

According to evidence at the June 2013 trial, as described by prosecutors [1]:

1. Billing under one name: Medicare pays for psychotherapy only when performed by an enrolled provider or "incident to" that provider's services. Ferrell, an enrolled provider, authorized his companies to bill under his number.
2. Someone else in the room: Each claim said Ferrell gave 45 to 50 minutes of one-on-one therapy. The sessions were actually run by Woods, psychology graduate students Ferrell recruited, or others with little or no supervision. Ferrell never attended or supervised nursing-home sessions.
3. Extra visits and dead patients: They billed for more visits than took place, and for sessions supposedly given to patients who had already died.
4. Volume: Woods filed more than 31,000 claims, a prosecutor said at sentencing, calling them "an out and out lie."

"This was an egregious fraud," U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Kendall said.

The people sentenced

Both are from Chicago and were convicted by a jury in June 2013 on six counts of health care fraud each. Both were ordered to pay $1,525,496 in restitution and serve two years of supervised release [1].

• Keenan R. Ferrell, 55 — owner and operator of Take Action and Inner Arts; sentenced in August 2014 to 88 months in prison.
• Bryce Woods, 37 — employee; sentenced Feb. 23, 2015, to 70 months in prison.

Red flags

• Therapy billed under a doctor or psychologist your relative never met.
• Long one-on-one sessions listed on Medicare statements for residents who say they barely saw anyone.
• Charges after a resident's death.

What to do if you're targeted

1. Families should review nursing-home residents' Medicare statements and ask the facility who actually provided each service.
2. Report suspected fraud to HHS-OIG at oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud or 1-800-HHS-TIPS.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Keenan R. Ferrell, Chicago	N.D. Ill. (Judge Kendall)	Convicted at trial June 2013; sentenced Aug. 2014 to 88 months; $1,525,496 restitution	[1]
Bryce Woods, Chicago	N.D. Ill. (Judge Kendall)	Convicted at trial June 2013; sentenced Feb. 23, 2015, to 70 months; $1,525,496 restitution	[1]

The sentences were imposed in 2014 and 2015; we have not found a source on either man's current custody status.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Psychologist And Psychotherapy Services Owner Sentenced To Over Seven Years, And Employee Sentenced To Over Five Years In $1.5 Million Medicare Fraud," Feb. 23, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/psychologist-and-pschotheraphy-services-owner-sentenced-over-seven-years-and-employee

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