Contact

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-212-350-2774

Archive

Page 40 of 71

February 22, 2019

The owner of New York Pharmacy, Inc., NYC Pharmacy Inc., and NY Healthfirst Pharmacy Inc., pharmacist Hin T. Wong, has pleaded guilty to criminal charges arising from millions of dollars in false billing to New York's Medicaid program for HIV drugs.  Wong billed Medicaid for medications that she never dispensed, a scheme disclosed by an investigation confirming that Wong's pharmacies did not purchase a sufficient inventory of medication from licensed drug wholesalers to account for the quantity of medication for which Wong’s pharmacies billed Medicaid and Medicaid Managed Care Organizations.  In addition, Wong paid kickbacks to individuals to bill for medications that were not, in fact, dispensed.  Under a related civil settlement, Wong will surrender over $3.6 million to the state.  NY

Tagged in: Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Pharma Fraud,

February 20, 2019

Hope Thomley of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, pleaded guilty for her role in a compounding pharmacy kickback scheme.  Thomley was the owner and operator of acompany that marketed for Advantage Pharmacy in Hattiesburg, and received 50% of Advantage's reimbursements.  Thomley admitted that she knew Advantage submitted false claims for payment to federal healthcare programs for medications that had not been prescribed by a doctor or were not medically necessary.  Between 2012 and 2016, health care benefit programs, including TRICARE, reimbursed Advantage Pharmacy and other pharmacies involved in the scheme at least $200 million. DOJ

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Other Government Health Programs, Pharma Fraud,

February 19, 2019

Xerox Corporation will pay $236 million to the State of Texas to resolve claims that the company and its subsidiary Conduent, which provided services to the Texas Medicaid program, improperly approved requests for orthodontic procedures without ensuring that the procedures met Medicaid program requirements.  As a result, the state paid for orthodontic work that was unnecessary or did not meet program requirements.  Texas

Tagged in: Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud,

February 13, 2019

Ashraf Hasan-Hafez and Ilya Kogan have been sentenced to over three years in prison for their participation in a scheme that defrauded Medicare and New York State Medicaid out of $1.3M dollars. Hasan-Hafez, the owner of a physical therapy practice, and Kogan, the owner of an acupuncture company, fraudulently submitted bills for services that were not rendered, or for services performed by unlicensed individuals. In addition to jail time, Hasan-Hafez and Kogan have been ordered to forfeit $1,297,000 in restitution to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.  DOJ    

Tagged in: Criminal Proceedings, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare,

February 11, 2019

GenomeDx Biosciences Corp. has agreed to pay $1.99 million in connection with a whistleblower complaint by two former employees, which alleged that the genetic testing laboratory violated the False Claims Act in its submissions to Medicare. According to the unnamed whistleblowers, from 2015 to 2017, GenomeDx submitted reimbursement claims for running a post-operative genetic test on prostate cancer patients, even though that population did not have risk factors that called for the test. They will share in a $348,316.50 award as part of the settlement. USAO SDCA

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Medicare, Whistleblower Case,

February 12, 2019

Jefferson Medical Associates, a Laurel-based physicians group, and neurologist, Dr. Aremmia Tanious, will pay the United States $817,635.06 to settle allegations under the False Claims Act regarding Medicare overpayments. The government’s investigation discovered that from 2012 to 2014, Jefferson Medical Associates and Dr. Tanious allegedly did not return overpayments they received on claims from Medicare. It is further alleged that from February 1, 2013, through June 30, 2017, Jefferson Medical Associates and Dr. Tanious allegedly used multiple medical codes when billing Medicare but the medical documentation did not support those billing practices. DOJ    

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare,

February 8, 2019

Two executives from the South Carolina Early Autism Project (SCEAP) have been convicted of causing false statements to be submitted to Medicare and TRICARE and causing them to be overcharged by millions of dollars. According to statements by SCEAP employees, co-founder Ann Davis Eldridge and executive Angela Breitweiser Keith instructed employees to include travel and wait time in their billing in order to inflate time spent providing services. To further incentivize this practice, they implemented billing goals that had to be met in order to qualify for bonuses such as gift cards and vacations, all paid for by the company. Since then SCEAP has repaid almost $9 million, and as part of their plea agreement, both Keith and Eldridge will serve 1-year sentences. USAO SC

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

February 8, 2019

A Texas-based marketing company, One Source Healthcare Organization, and its owner, James Paul Adams, have agreed to pay $339,412.50 to resolve allegations that it violated the Anti-Kickback Statute in accepting illegal payments from a compounding pharmacy to market their drug. Because the payments resulted in false claims being paid by Medicare and TRICARE, they were also alleged to be in violation of the federal False Claims Act. Two men affiliated with the compounding pharmacy, Oklahoma-based OK Compounding, LLC, were previously indicted on similar charges. USAO NDOK

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs,

February 7, 2019

Six people associated with a string of substance abuse treatment centers have been indicted for defrauding Ohio's Medicaid program of over $31 million. Ryan Sheridan, the owner and operator of the businesses, along with Jennifer Sheridan, Kortney Gherardi, Lisa Pertee, Thomas Bailey, and Arthur Smith, allegedly submitted claims that were false on a number of fronts, including but not limited to: billing without proper documentation, for medically unnecessary services, provided by unqualified persons, and upcoded to a more costly service. Altogether, 134,744 false claims were submitted for more than $48.5 million in services. USAO NDOH

Tagged in: Healthcare Fraud, Improper Medical Personnel, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Upcoding,

February 7, 2019

A former bus driver with the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for defrauding the authority's health benefit plan of $2.8 million. Enver Kalaba, who was recruited into the scheme by former bus driver Christopher Frusci, worked on behalf of an unnamed company to pay bribes to fellow MTA employees in exchange for medically unnecessary prescription compounded medications. For each prescription for medications such as pain creams, scar creams, and metabolic supplements, Kalaba and Frusci paid $100. As part of his sentence, Kalaba must now forfeit $138,630 in fraudulent earnings and pay $2.9 million in restitution. Frusci is scheduled to be sentenced next month. USAO NJ

Tagged in: Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, Criminal Proceedings, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Other Government Health Programs,

1 … 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 … 71

Newsletter

Subscribe to receive email updates from the Constantine Cannon blogs

Sign up for: