Archive

October 21, 2020

Purdue Pharma LP agreed to criminal fines and forfeitures totaling $5.544 billion following its guilty plea on charges arising from its manufacture and sale of opioid products.  Purdue falsely represented to the DEA that they maintained an effective anti-diversion program while continuing to market opioid products to healthcare providers that it had reason to believe were diverting opioids, aided and abetted the dispensing of opioids without a legitimate medical purpose, paid doctors to induce them to prescribe Purdue’s products, and paid an EHR company to boost the presence of Purdue’s products on the EHR system.  Purdue will receive a credit of up to $1.775 billion based on its prior settlements with state and local entities.  In addition to the criminal fines and forfeitures, a civil settlement provides the U.S. with an allowed claim of $2.8 billion to resolve claims that the company caused the submission of false claims to federal healthcare programs.  Individual members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue, separately agreed to pay $225  million to resolve claims arising from their approval of a marketing program aimed at extreme high-volume prescribers and their transfer of assets into Sackler family holding companies and trusts.   DOJ

October 14, 2020

Medical device maker Merit Medical Systems Inc. will pay $18 million to resolve claims first brought by a whistleblower under the False Claims Act that the company paid unlawful kickbacks to doctors and hospitals to induce them to use MMSI’s EmboSphere and QuadraSphere devices for embolization procedures.  MMSI was alleged to have offered hospitals and providers with millions of dollars in free advertising assistance, “educational” grants, and other services based on the providers’ past sales and to induce future sales.  The whistleblower, Charles J. Wolf, M.D., who will receive $2.65 million, was the Chief Compliance Officer for the company; according to DOJ, he repeatedly warned MMSI that its practices violated the Anti-Kickback Statue.  DOJ; USAO NJ; NC AG

October 2, 2020

Pharmatech, Inc. and its CEO and founder Tuan Pham will pay over $3 million to settle allegations in a case initiated as a qui tam action under the False Claims Act.  The government alleged that defendants violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying a medical clinic, Imperial Valley Wellness, a per-specimen fee to induce it to refer orders for laboratory drug-testing to Phamatech which were subsequently billed to Medicare.  Many of the tests were also alleged to be not medically necessary. The whistleblower, former Pharmatech employee John Polanco, will receive over $500,000 from the settlement.  USAO SD Cal.

October 2, 2020

Advanced Pain Management Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries will pay $1 million to resolve claims brought by a whistleblower under the False Claims Act.  Defendants, which run ambulatory surgical centers, were alleged to have violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by improperly gifting incentive stock shares to non-employee physicians allegedly as a reward for past and anticipated referrals to APMH facilities, and by paying those physicians “medical director” fees tied to the volume of procedures at APMH facilities, without proper documentation of the agreement.  In addition, defendants were alleged to have performed unnecessary confirmatory urine drug testing on patients.  USAO ED WI

October 2, 2020

Two New York-based physical therapy providers have agreed to pay $4 million to resolve whistleblower-brought allegations of violating the False Claims Act by improperly billing multiple government healthcare programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act Program (FECA), and the Federal Employees’ Health Benefits Program (FEHBP).  The alleged misconduct by Williamsburg Physical Therapy, P.C., Euro Physical Therapy, P.C., owners Alex and Diana Klurfeld, and management company First Plus Services, Inc. occurred between 2008 to 2018, and involved billing for physical therapy services provided or supervised by someone other than the licensed therapist listed on claims, as well as backdating services after treatment authorizations had expired.  USAO EDNY

September 30, 2020

Industries for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Inc., paid $1.9 million to resolve claims brought by a whistleblower under the False Claims Act alleging that the defendant, which received set-aside contracts under the federal government’s AbilityOne Program in exchange for agreeing to provide jobs to workers who are blind or visually impaired, misrepresented its employment of blind personnel.  In addition, company personnel allegedly accepted impermissible payments from manufacturers and improperly subcontracted work on government contracts to companies that did not generally use blind labor.  DOJ; USAO ED WI

September 29, 2020

Laredo optometrist David Mora will pay $3.23 million and enter into a corporate integrity agreement to resolve claims that he submitted false claims to Medicare between 2013 and 2019.  Mora allegedly billed for services including punctal plug insertion, sensorimotor testing, vision therapy, and amniotic membrane placement, where the patient’s condition did not warrant the service as medically necessary or reasonable.  USAO SD TX

September 28, 2020

Lakeway Regional Medical Center, LLC, together with affiliated parties Surgical Development Partners LLC, Surgical Development Partners of Austin Enterprises LLC, G. Edward Alexander, Frank Sossi, and John Prater, will pay $15.3 million to resolve allegations under the False Claim Act arising from the development of the hospital.  Defendants were alleged to have made numerous false statements in applying for a federally-insured mortgage loan for construction of the hospital, including overstating physician support for the hospital and understating other credit risks.  Specifically, while some investors had requested refunds, defendants delayed making those refunds in order to overstate cash on hand, and, after the mortgage funds were obtained, defendants distributed them in contravention of FHA requirements.  The hospital later defaulted on the loan. The government previously settled with other defendants.  DOJ 

September 28, 2020

Lakeway Regional Medical Center, LLC will pay $1,119,177 to resolve allegations that the hospital submitted false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs in the form of claims for payment for services that were based on referrals from doctors offered investment in a joint venture to purchase and then lease the hospital back to LRMC.  The government alleged that such an arrangement was unlawful under the Anti-Kickback Statute.  The case was initiated by a qui tam complaint filed by Dr. Robert Van Boven and Sharon Van Boven.  USAO WD TX

September 25, 2020

A multinational industrial engineering company headquartered in Germany has agreed to pay $22 million to settle allegations of violating the False Claims Act.  In order to avoid paying certain import duties over a six year period, Linde GmbH and its Houston-based subsidiary, Linde Engineering North America LLC knowingly misrepresented the nature, classification, and valuation of its merchandise, which is used in the construction of natural gas and chemical manufacturing plants.  The misconduct was first brought to the government’s attention by a whistleblower, who will receive a $3.7 million share of the settlement proceeds.  The defendant later made a partial disclosure to the government prior to the government’s disclosure of its investigation.  DOJ; USAO EDPA