October 7, 2015

Kentucky-based nursing home pharmacy PharMerica Corp. agreed to pay $9.25 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by soliciting and receiving kickbacks from pharmaceutical manufacturer Abbott Laboratories in exchange for promoting the anti-epileptic prescription drug Depakote for nursing home patients.  The settlement is part of the continuing fallout of the $1.5 billion settlement Abbott entered into with the government in May 2012 to resolve Abbott’s liability under...

October 1, 2015

Nurses’ Registry and Home Health Corporation and the Estate of its former owner, the deceased Lennie House, agreed to pay $16 million to resolve allegations that Nurses’ Registry, at the direction of Lennie House, violated the False Claims Act by fraudulently billing Medicare for medically unnecessary home health services and for services tainted by kickbacks provided by the company and House to local physicians and others who referred patients to...

October 1, 2015

Strata Pathology Laboratory, Inc. (known as StrataDx) agreed to pay $558,793 to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by inducing physicians to refer Medicare and Medicaid patients to Strata by paying kickbacks in the form of sham consulting fees and providing unlawful discounts to physicians.  According to the settlement agreement, Strata acknowledged paying consulting fees to two referring physician practices that did not provide consulting services in exchange. ...

August 25, 2015

A federal jury in Miami convicted Roger Rousseau, former medical director of Health Care Solutions Network Inc. (HCSN), and three HCSN therapists for their roles in a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare and Florida Medicaid more than $63 million.  HCSN is a now-defunct partial hospitalization program that purported to provide intensive treatment for mental illness.  According to the evidence presented at trial, HCSN billed Medicare and Medicaid for mental health...

August 18, 2015

Hovik Simitian, owner and operator of three medical clinics located in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to submitting more than $4.5 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.  Simitian admitted he and his co-conspirators paid cash kickbacks to patient recruiters who brought Medicare beneficiaries to his clinics, Columbia Medical Group Inc., Life Care Medical Clinic and Safe Health Medical Clinic.  Simitian also admitted they billed Medicare for lab tests and other services...

August 3, 2015

Rouzbeh Javaherian, owner of Los Angeles-based Westaid Pharmacy and Medical Supply, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and to pay $644,060 in restitution for his role in a fraud scheme involving the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.  Specifically, Javaherian paid illegal cash kickbacks to Medicare beneficiaries to induce them to submit their prescriptions to Westaid.  Javaherian then filled some of those prescriptions, but also submitted false claims to...

July 30, 2015

California-based medical device manufacturer NuVasive Inc. agreed to pay $13.5 million to resolve charges it violated the False Claims Act by improperly promoting the company’s CoRoent System for spine surgeries for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.  The settlement also resolves allegations NuVasive paid illegal kickbacks to induce physicians to use the company’s CoRoent System.  The government’s allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former NuVasive sales...

July 27, 2015

Zafar Mehmood and Badar Ahmadani, owners of two home health care agencies, were convicted of various offenses based on their roles in a $33 million Medicare fraud scheme.  According to evidence presented at trial, Mehmood and Ahmadani paid cash kickbacks to recruiters, who in turn paid cash to patients to induce them to sign up for home health care with Mehmood’s companies:  Access Care Home Care Inc., Patient Care Home...

July 24, 2015

Mohammed Sadiq was sentenced to 80 months in prison and to pay $14.1 million in restitution for his leading role in a $12.6 million Medicare and tax fraud scheme.  Sadiq, who owned and directed operations at two home health care companies in Detroit, admitted billing Medicare for home health services not medically necessary or provided and paying kickbacks to patient recruiters to obtain Medicare beneficiary information used in his scheme.  DOJ

June 30, 2015

Sylvia Walter-Eze, the former owner of medical equipment supply company Ezcor Medical Supply, was sentenced to 97 months in prison for her role in a fraud scheme that resulted in $3.5 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medi-Cal.  She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amounts of $1,866,260 to Medicare and $73,268 to Medi-Cal.  The evidence presented at trial showed that Walter-Eze fraudulently billed more than $3.5...