Archive

May 5, 2021

Neurosurgical Associates, LTD and Dignity Health, d/b/a St. Joseph’s Hospital, have agreed to a $10 million settlement and five-year corporate integrity agreement to resolve allegations of violating the federal False Claims Act. According to whistleblower Dr. Bruce P. Kingsley, Neurological Associates and St. Joseph’s Hospital improperly billed Medicare for certain doubly and triply concurrent and overlapping surgeries. USAO AZ

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case,

April 21, 2021

Tennessee-based Anesthesia Services Associates, PLLC d/b/a Comprehensive Pain Specialists (CPS) and its four majority owners have agreed to pay a total of $4.1 million to resolve allegations of violating the federal False Claims Act and Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act. According to the government, CPS billed Medicare and TennCare for medically unnecessary or non-reimbursable genetic tests, psychological tests, specimen validity tests, and urine drug tests, as well as medically unnecessary or non-reimbursable acupuncture. For bringing a successful qui tam suit, the whistleblowers in this case will receive a relator’s share of over $610,000. USAO MDTN

Tagged in: FCA Federal, FCA State, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Medicaid, Medicare, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

April 20, 2021

In order to resolve a whistleblower suit alleging violations of the False Claims Act, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and its related entities have agreed to pay over $2.6 million. Over an eight-year period ending in 2020, Massachusetts Eye and Ear allegedly made a habit of submitting false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for office visits that were not reimbursable under program rules. Altogether, the government programs were defrauded of over a million dollars. As a reward for blowing the whistle, the unnamed relator will receive a 15% share of the settlement proceeds. USAO MA

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

April 19, 2021

Maryland physician Njideka Udochi of Millennium Family Practice will pay $660,000 to resolve allegations that she submitted false claims for auricular stimulation, or "P-Stim," devices. Udochi billed Medicare using a billing code covering the surgical implantation of a type of neurostimulator, but P-Stim devices are not surgically implanted, and are not approved for reimbursement from Medicare. USAO MD

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Billing Fraud, Medical Devices and DME, Provider Fraud, Upcoding,

March 23, 2021

The former owner of Shape of Behavior (TSOB), a Texas-based therapy service provider for children with autism, has agreed to pay $2.7 million to resolve allegations that nine of the provider’s locations submitted improper claims to TRICARE. The misconduct was uncovered by TRICARE’s managed care support contractor, Humana Military Program Integrity, and involved claims that could not be substantiated by medical records, claims involving excessive hours by individual providers, and misrepresentations of the identities of actual rendering providers. USAO SDTX

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Billing Fraud, Other Government Health Programs, Provider Fraud,

March 18, 2021

A Michigan-based cardiologist, Dinesh Shah, and his practice, Michigan Physicians Group, P.C. (MPG), have agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations of defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE by submitting claims for medically unnecessary diagnostic testing, in violation of the False Claims Act. In separate qui tam suits filed by former employees Arlene Klinke and Khrystyna Mala, the whistleblowers alleged that between 2006 and 2017, Shah and MPG billed government healthcare programs for Ankle Brachial Index tests, Toe Brachial Index tests, and Nuclear Stress Tests that were ordered and provided without regard to necessity. USAO EDMI

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case,

March 8, 2021

Vascular surgeon Feng Qin and his medical practice Qin Medical P.C. will pay $800,000 to resolve civil claims and criminal charges that Qin performed procedures on end-stage renal disease patients that were not medically reasonable and necessary, and fraudulently billed Medicare. Qin performed vascular access procedures on patients on a routine scheduled basis, without documenting the required clinical findings. The government’s investigation was initiated by the filing of a qui tam complaint by Mark Favors. USAO SDNY

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case,

March 5, 2021

A substance abuse treatment facility and two inpatient psychiatric hospitals in Ohio, along with their corporate parent, have agreed to pay $10.25 million to resolve claims under the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act. According to DOJ, between 2013 and 2019, The Woods at Parkside, Cambridge Behavioral Hospital, and Ridgeview Behavioral Hospital—all owned by Florida-based Oglethorpe Inc.—allegedly provided improper inducements in the form of free long-distance transportation in order to entice patients to seek treatment at their facilities, and then submitted claims for services provided to those patients to Medicare. The case was initiated by a former client advocate working at Cambridge, Darlene Baker. DOJ; USAO SDOH

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Hospital Fraud, Medicare, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case,

March 3, 2021

The CEO of a group of medical providers in Michigan and Ohio has been sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay over $51 million in restitution to Medicare, as well as forfeit over $11.5 million in cash along with multiple properties and a Detroit Pistons season ticket membership, following a trial that found him guilty for his role in an extensive fraud scheme against Medicare. Mashiyat Rashid, the CEO of Tri-County Wellness Group, allegedly instituted a corporate policy that forced patients—many of whom were addicted to opioids and recruited from homeless shelters and soup kitchens—to submit to medically unnecessary but highly reimbursed back injections in exchange for prescriptions to medically unnecessary opioids. To implement the policy, Rashid made a point to hire physicians who were willing to put profit over patient care, further incentivizing them by offering to split reimbursements with them. Yet according to trial testimony, many of the patients did not want, need, or benefit from the painful back injections, which left some of them suffering from adverse conditions, including open holes in their back. Rashid is the second defendant to be sentenced in this case; twenty-one other defendants, including two physicians, have been convicted so far. DOJ

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicare, Provider Fraud,

March 2, 2021

Medical practice Allergy and Asthma Associates Inc., in Roanoke, Virginia, will pay $2.1 million to resolve allegations that it fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid for asthma treatments. AAA treated patients with Xolair, an asthma treatment sold in single-use vials, and billed government healthcare programs for the entire vial when, in fact, they were splitting vials between different patients. USAO WDVA

Tagged in: Dosage Fraud, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Billing Fraud, Provider Fraud,

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