Florida Doctor Sues V.I. Human Services for $10M Over Years of Unpaid Medicaid Claims and Administrative Failures

Internal medicine physician Naim Dahdah says DHS failed to onboard him into the Medicaid system for years, blocking $900K in claims and delaying $600K more—driving him into debt and damaging his reputation, despite caring for USVI patients others refused.

A physician based in Doral, Florida is suing the V.I. Department of Human Services for what he says is a “multi-year failure” to reimburse him for Medicaid services provided to USVI patients.

In a pro se lawsuit filed in District Court in late July, Naim Dahdah says that he has been providing care to USVI Medicaid beneficiaries since at least 2019. Before 2022, however, Dr. Dahdah claims that he was denied access to the VIMMIS billing platform, because DHS failed to onboard him as a provider “despite Plaintiff's repeated requests via phone, email, and physical documentation.”

The lack of portal access meant that hundreds of legitimate claims went unsubmitted, unrecorded, and thus unpaid – at least $900,000 worth, according to the lawsuit.

Once he was able to access the billing portal, from 2023 onwards, Dr. Dahdah says he began submitting valid Medicaid claims. Since then, he has submitted over $800,000 in claims but has received less than $200,000 in reimbursement. The internal medicine practitioner says a further $60,000 has been acknowledged, but had yet to be disbursed. According to the lawsuit, DHS has cited “new vendor registration requirements” for the delay.