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Page 150 of 158

December 1, 2015

Athletic apparel company Tommie Copper, Inc. and its founder have agreed to pay $1.35 million to settle FTC charges that they deceptively advertised the company’s copper-infused compression clothing would relieve severe and chronic pain and inflammation caused by arthritis and other diseases. Tommie Copper’s proposed settlement with the FTC also requires the company and its founder and chairman Thomas Kallish to have competent and reliable scientific evidence before making future claims about pain relief, disease treatment, or health benefits. FTC

November 24, 2015

In a series of related cases, a former hospital CFO, two orthopedic surgeons and two others have been charged in long-running health care fraud schemes that illegally referred thousands of patients for spinal surgeries and generated nearly $600 million in fraudulent billings over an eight-year period. The schemes involved tens of millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks to dozens of doctors, chiropractors and others. As a result of the illegal payments, thousands of patients were referred for spinal surgeries at California hospitals. Many of the fraudulent claims were paid by the California worker’s compensation system and the federal government. CA

November 11, 2015

The FTC filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop a dietary supplement marketer from making misleading claims that its product can help treat and even cure people who are addicted to opiates, including prescription pain medications and illegal drugs such as heroin. According to the FTC’s complaint against Sunrise Nutraceuticals, LLC, the company, based in Boca Raton, Florida, deceptively claims that its dietary supplement Elimidrol, a “proprietary blend” of herbs and other compounds, alleviates opiate withdrawal symptoms and increases a user’s likelihood of overcoming opiate addiction. FTC

November 4, 2015

The federal government, District of Columbia, and 48 states, settled claims against AstraZeneca LP and Cephalon, Inc., for a total of $54 million. The settlement resolves allegations that AstraZeneca and Cephalon under-paid drug rebates owed to the states. Under the federal law known as the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, drug manufacturers must periodically return a portion of the amount paid by state Medicaid programs for the manufacturers’ drugs. The rebate program is designed to ensure that states pay competitive prices for drugs, and is calculated based on a percentage of the average price drug wholesalers pay for the manufacturers’ drugs. This average price, which the manufacturer reports to the federal government, is known as the Average Manufacturer’s Price or “AMP.” The greater the AMP reported by the manufacturer, the greater the rebate the manufacturer must pay. NY; MA; NH

October 14, 2015

The Maryland Attorney General announced a $13.5 million settlement with NuVasive, Inc, resolving allegations brought in a whistleblower suit that the California medical device company improperly marketed its spine surgery products and provided kickbacks to doctors through speaking fees and other payments. MD

October 8, 2015

43 states joined the federal government in a $9.25 million dollar settlement with PharMerica over allegations in two separate whistleblower actions that PharMerica conspired with Abbott Laboratories, a drug manufacturer, through a number of disguised kickback arrangements to increase overall utilization of the drug Depakote and to promote misbranded Depakote. FL; MA; NH

October 7, 2015

In New York, two individuals who owned and operated two transportation companies, were arrested for allegedly violating the Workers’ Compensation law and illegally obtaining over $1 million from the Medicaid system. Yellow Medi-Van and Taxi, Inc. received payments from the Medicaid Program for transporting Medicaid beneficiaries to medical appointments. The defendants are alleged to have knowingly operated the company in violation of transportation regulations, including not having worker’s compensation insurance. During the time the company was operated unlawfully, the companies obtained over $1 million in Medicaid payments. NY

September 29, 2015

The New Jersey Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor obtained an indictment against a doctor, Syed Jaffery, for accepting kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals. The indictment alleges that from 2010 to 2013, Jaffrey participated in a scheme by which he agreed to refer patients needing MRI and CT scans to Diagnostic Imaging Services of South Jersey in exchange for monetary kickbacks. Over the course of the scheme, Jaffrey allegedly accepted approximately $195,000. In an attempt to disguise the arrangement, the kickback checks were made payable to Jaffrey’s alleged shell company Mask Realities and purported to be for a rental space for billing services. NJ

September 23, 2015

The Florida Attorney General announced a $3.5 million settlement with Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation and Adventist Health System/Sunbelt, Inc. to resolve two suits brought by whistleblowers alleging that Adventist maintained improper financial relationships with physicians and submitted claims to Florida Medicaid for services and items the physicians referred. The settlement resolves claims that Adventist submitted false Medicaid claims and awarded referring doctors based on the number of tests and procedures the doctors ordered. Adventist also entered into separate civil settlements with the federal government, North Carolina and Texas, agreeing to pay more than $115 million. FL.

September 10, 2015

The Washington Attorney General announced a suit against CareOne Dental Corporation and related individuals for Medicaid fraud. The suit alleges that the defendants systematically billed Medicaid for non-covered services which they misrepresented in their billings, “upcoded” services (more expensive versions of what they actually performed), and services they simply didn’t provide. The Attorney General’s Office currently estimates at least 20 percent of the claims CareOne Dental presented to Medicaid from January 2011 to June of 2015 were fraudulent, which would amount to approximately $1 million in single damages. WA
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