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December 15, 2022

A physician and his Connecticut-based urgent care practices have agreed to pay over $4.2 million to settle allegations of submitting false claims to Medicare and the Connecticut Medicaid program.  Jasdeep Sidana—the owner and CEO of Docs Medical Group, Inc., Docs Medical Inc., Docs Urgent Care LLP, Lung Docs of CT, P.C., Epic Family Physicians, LLP, and Continuum Medical Group, LLC (collectively, DOCS)—allegedly billed for immunotherapy services, including allergy testing and treatment, that were not medically necessary and not directly supervised by a physician.  Additionally, the defendants allegedly billed for COVID test administration using codes for more complex evaluation and management (“E&M”) services.  USAO CT

December 15, 2022

Florida-based Ocenture LLC and its subsidiary, Carelumina LLC, have agreed to pay $3 million to settle allegations of submitting claims to Medicare that were tainted by illegal kickbacks.  Two marketers approached by Ocenture to participate in the kickback scheme, Christopher Improta and Peter Brandt, filed a qui tam suit against Ocenture which alleged the company provided kickbacks to physicians to have them falsely attest that genetic tests Ocenture solicited directly from Medicare beneficiaries was medically necessary.  The whistleblowers also alleged that Ocenture arranged for laboratories to process those tests and pay it a portion of the laboratories’ Medicare reimbursements.  For instigating a successful enforcement action, Improta and Brandt will share a $570,000 award.  DOJ

October 31, 2022

Felix Amos of Houston, TX will serve 30 months in federal prison and will pay over $21 million in restitution for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme carried out with two other co-defendants. From 2010 to 2015, Amos owned and operated home health companies Dayton Health Bridges, Access Practical Solutions, Advanced Holistic, GetUpandWalk Inc., and Guaranty Home Health Agency. Amos and his co-conspirators submitted false claims to Medicare for patients that did not need or receive services, including deceased or incarcerated persons, and for services not ordered by a physician. USAO SDTX

October 14, 2022

The owners of two Texas-based home health clinics have been sentenced to 10 years in prison each after a jury convicted them of conspiring to commit healthcare fraud.  Alfred Olotin Alatan, who owned Colony Home Health Services, and Francis Ekene, who owned Milten Medical Clinic, allegedly paid recruiters for patient information, then billed providers for home health services, regardless of need.  Co-conspirators Susana Bermudez and Rita Kpotie Smith, both of whom operated the clinics under Alatan’s direction, are currently serving 2.5 years and 5 years in prison, respectively.  USAO SDTX

September 14, 2022

New York-Presbyterian/Queens Hospital has agreed to pay over $2.5 million to settle allegations that a former physician repeatedly performed and billed federal healthcare programs for medically unnecessary procedures, at the risk of patient health.  The procedures involved replacing batteries in an implanted pacemaker type device, even though batteries were still functioning normally and did not yet need to be replaced.  USAO EDNY

August 11, 2022

Spivack, Inc., formerly operating as Verree Pharmacy, and owner-pharmacist Mitchell Spivack, have agreed to pay over $4.1 million in civil penalties for dispensing opioids despite numerous red flags the drugs were being diverted—all in violation of the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act. In furtherance of the fraud, Spivack made false statements to drug distributors to maintain the façade of legitimacy, while concurrently drawing millions from the pharmacy and harming the public. In addition to their opioid fraud, Spivack and Verree effectuated their “Bill But Don’t Fill” scheme, where they would enter “BBDF” in their internal computer system, and would submit false claims to insurers for drugs not actually dispensed. USAO EDPA

August 5, 2022

Gonzaga Interventional Pain Management, Melvin Gonzaga, M.D., and his son Rommel Gonzaga will pay $980,000 for violating the False Claims Act by submitting claims for medically unnecessary urine drug tests. GIPM required patients to submit a UDT sample before being seen by a provider and discussing the results from any prior UDT the patient received. Regardless of the patients’ individualized testing needs, GIPM always opted for the more complex “definitive” UDT rather than the lower-level “presumptive” UDT, netting a higher reimbursement rate from the US government. USAO MD

August 3, 2022

Dunn Meadow LLC dba Dunn Meadow Pharmacy, pleaded guilty to illegally distributing prescription fentanyl and paying kickbacks to healthcare providers, in violation of the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act. From 2015 through 2019, Dunn Meadow filled prescriptions not written for a legitimate medical purpose, including those for patients exhibiting suspicious drug-seeking behavior (i.e., requesting prescriptions be sent to suspicious or inappropriate locations including hotels, casinos, and elementary schools). These actions caused a $4.5 million loss to the federal government. Dunn Meadow will pay up to $50 million over the next five years to resolve its civil liability if it generates future revenue. USAO NJ

July 27, 2022

ca Glenn Pair and Markuetric Stringfellow will spend 70 and 78 months in prison, respectively, and pay over $5 million each in restitution for defrauding three States’ Medicaid programs of more than $5 million, and for receiving $1.8 million in kickbacks from participating laboratories. The two owned and operated Do-It-4-The Hood Corporation in North Carolina and later expanded to Georgia. They targeted Medicare-eligible children, enrolled them in their programs, and required them to submit urine specimens for drug testing. Drug testing was in turn billed to Medicaid by complicit laboratories, who then paid kickbacks after receiving Medicaid reimbursement. Through their Wrights Care Services LLC franchise in South Carolina, the two filed fraudulent Medicaid claims for mental health counseling, going so far as to host a “note party,” upon learning of a Medicare audit of Wrights Care, to cover up their scheme by creating false billing records to substantiate their fraudulent Medicaid claims. USAO WDNC, USAO SC

July 22, 2022

Metric Lab Services, LLC, Metric Management Services LLC, Spectrum Diagnostic Labs LLC, and two of their owners, Sherman Kennerson and Jeffrey Madison, will pay $5.7 million to resolve allegations of False Claims Act violations. In their genetic testing fraud scheme, Metric and Spectrum paid kickbacks to certain marketers who solicited generic testing samples from Medicare beneficiaries, with false physician attestations that the testing was medically necessary. Kennerson and Madison both pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and are currently awaiting sentencing. DOJ, NJ USAO
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