May 3, 2021

Two medical device distributorships, Medical Designs LLC and Sicage LLC, and their neurosurgeon owner, Wilson Asfora, have agreed to pay $4.4 million to resolve allegations of illegally inducing the use of certain medical devices, submitting false claims to federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary procedures, and failing to disclose Asfora’s ownership interests or illegal payments made to him.  The settlement was not the first involving Asfora; the United States previously settled with Sanford Health for $20.25 million and Medtronic for $9.21 million on similar claims.  The whistleblowers in this case, Drs. Carl Dustin Bechtold and Bryan Wellman, will receive a $800,000 share of the settlement proceeds, while the defendants will all be excluded from participating in federal healthcare programs for six years.  DOJ; USAO SD

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,