In February 2023, a disturbing case of impersonation was uncovered on social media. A woman, identified as TR, had been posing as a licensed clinical social worker named Peggy Randolph, who was employed by Brightside Health. The deception came to light when it was discovered that TR had been conducting online therapy sessions using Randolph’s credentials, while Randolph was attending to other patients in person.
According to an investigative report from the Florida Department of Health and a settlement agreement between Randolph and the state of Tennessee, TR was not licensed or trained to provide any counseling services. The couple’s fraudulent activities were exposed when Randolph was on bereavement leave following her wife’s death.
An online obituary for 58-year-old Tammy Heath-Randolph (TR) listed Peggy Randolph as her wife, and she passed away on February 11, 2023, just weeks before a patient complained to Brightside. The settlement agreement states that Randolph denied knowing about her wife’s use of her Brightside Health Therapist Portal log-in credentials. However, Brightside’s internal investigation revealed that Randolph had provided those credentials to her wife, who had been seeing all her patients for a long time.
Randolph also received compensation for the sessions her wife conducted, according to the settlement agreement. When presented with a photograph showing Heath-Randolph with one of her clients, Randolph acknowledged that she was her wife.
Brightside Health took immediate action once they learned of the breach, reimbursing the affected patients and revoking Randolph’s access to their software systems. They also terminated her contract. Randolph worked for the company from January 2021 until February 2023, during which she was assigned to provide therapy sessions to hundreds of clients. The exact number of patients seen by Heath-Randolph during this period remains unknown due to ongoing legal proceedings.
Randolph voluntarily surrendered her license in both Florida and Tennessee, and in May, she was ordered by the state of Tennessee to pay a $1,000 civil penalty within 12 months. CNN reached out to Randolph for comment but has not received a response.
