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February 1, 2024

One of the nation’s largest healthcare systems, Providence, has agreed to forgive more than $137 million in medical debt and refund more than $20 million to patients following a lawsuit by Washington State.  According to the Attorney General’s Office, between 2018 and 2023, Providence trained staff to demand payments from low income patients who were eligible for financial assistance, then sent some of those same patients to debt collectors even if they were Medicaid beneficiaries.  Almost 99,500 patients will receive relief as a result of this settlement, with the average refund amounting to about $478.  WA AG

January 16, 2024

Silver Lake Hospital, a long-term care hospital in New Jersey, will pay $18.6 million, and its principal investors Dr. Richard Lipsky and Columbus Management South LLC will pay another $12 million, to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act and Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act (FDCPA).  The hospital allegedly claimed excessive cost outlier payments from Medicare, well in excess of its needs or ability to repay, and transferred millions of dollars to investors without receiving equivalent value in return.  DOJ

January 4, 2024

ChristianaCare has paid $42.5 million for violations of the federal False Claims Act and the Delaware False Claims and Reporting Act. In a qui tam whistleblower complaint filed in 2017, ChristianaCare's former chief compliance officer alleged illegal remuneration was provided to non-employee neonatologists and surgeons in the form of free or below fair market services by ancillary support providers, such as nurse practitioners, hospitalists, and physician assistants. These services were meant to induce referrals from the non-employees, creating a financial relationship. USAO DE

January 4, 2024

Florida-based H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Hospital Inc. (Moffitt) has agreed to pay over $19.5 million to resolve allegations of violating federal and state False Claims Acts over a 6-year period.  A majority of the settlement proceeds, $18.2 million, will go to the federal government, while $1.3 million will go to the State of Florida.  The hospital allegedly billed the government for items and services that should have been billed to non-government sponsors.  DOJ

December 22, 2023

Christiana Care Health System has agreed to pay over $7.6 million to the State of Delaware for violating the federal and state False Claims Acts, and Delaware’s Patient Brokering and Anti-Kickback laws.  According to a qui tam whistleblower, who filed a case in 2017, the healthcare system provided free or below-market rate support services to doctors in exchange for referrals of Medicaid patients, then submitted false claims stemming from those referrals to Delaware’s Medicaid program.  DE AG

December 19, 2023

Indiana-based Community Health Network Inc. has agreed to pay $345 million to resolve claims by its former CFO and COO Thomas Fischer, which alleged the healthcare system submitted claims to Medicare that were tainted by violations of the Stark Law.  In order to capture physicians’ downstream referrals, Community paid physicians salaries that were sometimes double market rate, and awarded them bonuses based on the number of referrals.  Community then submitted claims resulting from these referrals for reimbursement.  DOJ

November 16, 2023

A doctor and a clinic owner were sentenced to 10 years and 12 years in prison for their roles in a $5 million pill mill scheme.  Jonathan Rosenfield, M.D. owned and operated two clinics with co-owner and co-operator Elmer Taylor.  Together, the two issued prescriptions for over 750,000 oxycodone pills and nearly 420,000 hydrocodone pills that were ultimately diverted to the illegal market.  DOJ

October 10, 2023

Mobile cardiac PET scan provider Cardiac Imaging Inc. (CII), and its founder and owner Sam Kancherlapalli, have agreed to pay over $75 million and over $10 million, respectively, to resolve a qui tam case by former billing manager Lynda Pinto, which alleged the company, Kancherlapalli, and part-owner Richard Nassenstein defrauded Medicare.  In violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, and False Claims Act, CII and Kancherlapalli allegedly paid kickbacks to referring cardiologists in the form of fees, ostensibly for supervising PET scans, that were far above fair market value.  The alleged misconduct occurred over a ten year period.  DOJ

August 18, 2023

A doctor who defrauded California’s Medicaid program of over $20 million has been sentenced to 5 years in jail, ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution, and forced to surrender his medical license.  Mohamed Waddah El-Nachef had pleaded guilty to prescribing medically unnecessary anti-psychotics, HIV medications, and opioids to over a thousand Medi-Cal beneficiaries, many of whom then sold the drugs for cash.  CA AG

July 31, 2023

Martin’s Point Health Care Inc. in Maine has agreed to pay almost $22.5 million to resolve a lawsuit by a former manager in its Risk Adjustment Operations group, which alleged the health plan administrator defrauded Medicare over a three year period.  The former manager, Alicia Wilbur, alleged that Martin’s Point reviewed charts for their Medicare Advantage beneficiaries to identify additional diagnosis codes, then submitted those codes in claims to Medicare in order to increase reimbursements even though they were not properly supported by patient medical records.  For blowing the whistle on this misconduct, Wilbur will receive a $3.8 million award.  DOJ
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