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...

December 5, 2022

An opioid abuse treatment facility in New Jersey has agreed to pay $3.15 million and enter into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement to resolve criminal and civil charges relating to alleged violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.  Between 2009 and 2015, Camden Treatment Associates LLC (CTA) allegedly received kickbacks from a related company in exchange for exclusive orders of CTA’s methadone mixing services.  CTA then allegedly submitted false claims to...

December 5, 2022

Optical lens manufacturer Essilor Laboratories of America, Inc. will pay $23.8 million to California to resolve allegations that the company violated the state’s Insurance Frauds Prevention Act when it allegedly provided kickbacks and other unlawful incentives to eye care providers in exchange for these providers’ promises to send business to Essilor. The state’s action was initiated by a whistleblower complaint filed by Christie Rudolph, who will receive a whistleblower reward...

November 1, 2022

Electronic health record technology vendor Modernizing Medicine, Inc. (“ModMed”) has agreed to pay $45 million to resolve allegations, including by its former VP of Product Management, that it both received and provided illegal kickbacks in exchange for referrals.  According to the government and whistleblower Amanda Long, ModMed engaged in schemes with Miraca Life Sciences, Inc. (now known as Inform Diagnostics) to receive kickbacks in exchange for recommending its users for...

October 18, 2022

Carter Healthcare LLC, affiliates CHC Holdings and Carter-Florida, president Stanley Carter, and Chief Operations Officer Bradley Carter have agreed to pay $23 million and $7.2 million to settle two whistleblower cases alleging violations of the False Claims Act.  The first case, filed in the Western District of Oklahoma, alleged that the Oklahoma-based home health company paid illegal kickbacks to physicians under the guise of medical directorships in order to induce...

October 6, 2022

A man in Missouri who was convicted of committing healthcare fraud through various durable medical equipment companies has been sentenced to 3 years in prison and ordered to repay $7.5 million.  Jamie McCoy, who owned or operated AE Wellness LLC, Summit Medical Supply, Patriot Medical Supply, and DME Device Co., had worked in conjunction with marketing firms and a telemedicine doctor to cause fraudulent claims derived from illegal kickbacks to...

October 3, 2022

Medical sales representative Steven Monaco has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for orchestrating two fraud schemes that led to multimillion dollar losses to federal, state, and private health insurance plans.  In the first scheme, Monaco arranged for a doctor’s medical assistant to be placed on the payroll of a medical diagnostic laboratory in exchange for all of the doctor’s labwork.  In the second scheme, Monaco arranged for doctors...

September 30, 2022

The owners and operators of three home health care companies in Illinois, Patricia and Felix Omorogbe, have been sentenced to a combined 3.5 years in prison and ordered to pay a combined $8 million in restitution for paying illegal kickbacks to patient marketers in exchange for referrals of Medicare beneficiaries.  According to the DOJ, in addition to the kickbacks, Patricia Omorogbe, a registered nurse, also falsely certified that she performed...

September 26, 2022

Biogen Inc. has agreed to pay $900 million to resolve allegations by former employee Michael Bawduniak that the pharmaceutical company paid illegal kickbacks to physicians in order to induce prescriptions of their multiple sclerosis drugs, causing false claims to be submitted to Medicare and Medicaid.  According to Bawduniak, over a five-year period, Biogen paid kickbacks in the form of speaker honoraria, training fees, consulting fees, and free meals.  The vast...

September 2, 2022

Bayer Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, will pay $40 million to settle claims initiated by a whistleblower alleging that the pharmaceutical manufacturer violated the False Claims Act by engaging in off-label marketing, unlawful kickbacks, and misreporting of safety risks with respect to its drugs Trasylol, Avelox, and Baycol.  The whistleblower, former Bayer marketing employee Laurie Simpson, will receive approximately $11 million from the settlement.  DOJ; USAO MN; USAO NJ