Contact

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-212-350-2774

Anti-Kickback and Stark

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law.

You may also be interested in the following pages:

Page 1 of 58

Catch of the Week: Gramercy Cardiac Diagnostic Services

Posted  09/26/23
businessmen shaking hands and other placing money in others pocket
This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to Gramercy Cardiac Diagnostic Services and its owner Klaus Peter Rentrop.  Gramercy provides cardiac diagnostic imaging services, previously operating out of four offices in New York City.  On Monday (September 18), the DOJ announced Rentrop and Gramercy will pay $6.5 million for violating the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute through their...

September 13, 2023

Texas-based Oliver Street Dermatology Management LLC, which manages dermatology practices, surgical centers, and pathology labs across the country, has agreed to pay $8.9 million to resolve self-reported violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, Stark Law, and False Claims Act.  The company revealed in 2021 that some of its former senior managers had fraudulently increased the purchase price of 11 dermatology practices acquired between 2013 and 2018 in exchange for referrals.  Claims arising from those referrals were found to have been submitted to Medicare.  USAO NDTX

August 31, 2023

Watermark Retirement Communities LLC, which manages 79 retirement homes across the country, has agreed to pay $4.25 million to settle claims of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act.  According to a lawsuit launched by David Freeman, the former director of strategic growth for a nationwide home health agency (HHA), between 2014 and 2020, Watermark solicited and received kickbacks from the HHA in exchange for referrals of Medicare beneficiaries from 8 of its retirement facilities in 5 states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, and Pennsylvania.  Watermark then caused false claims to be submitted in connection with those referrals.  DOJ

Scoundrel Spotlight - Medicare Fraudster Minal Patel

Posted  08/23/23
Medicare Paper on Hundred Dollar Bills
This week's Scoundrel in the Spotlight is Minal Patel who last week (August 18) was sentenced to 27 years in prison for defrauding Medicare of almost half a billion dollars for genetic testing patients did not need and were procured through bribes and kickbacks.  In announcing the sentencing, the government trumpeted the matter as one of the largest genetic testing fraud cases ever tried to verdict. Here is how...

August 18, 2023

The owner and operator of Georgia-based LabSolutions LLC has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for submitting over $463 million in medically unnecessary genetic and other laboratory tests derived from illegal kickbacks.  Minal Patel allegedly paid kickbacks to telemarketing companies to talk Medicare beneficiaries into getting the tests, then paid kickbacks to telemedicine doctors who signed orders for the tests without ever speaking to beneficiaries to determine need.  As a result of these fraudulent actions, Medicare paid over $187 million in reimbursement, with Patel receiving over $21 million personally, between 2016 and 2019.  DOJ

District Court Rules that Broad Measure of Damages Applies in False Claims Act Case, Greatly Increasing Defendants’ Exposure

Posted  07/21/23
Massachusetts State Capitol Building
Several aspects of the federal False Claims Act incentivize the government and relators to bring fraud claims to recover damages to the government.  In addition to awarding relators typically between 15% and 30% of the proceeds of the action or settlement; awarding reasonable attorneys’ fees, expenses, and costs; and applying statutory penalties for each false claim submitted; the act also provides for treble...

July 14, 2023

Electronic health record technology vendor NextGen Healthcare Inc. has agreed to pay $31 million to resolve a whistleblower’s allegations that it misrepresented the capabilities of certain software and improperly induced users to recommend the software.  According to two users of the NextGen’s software, Toby Markowitz and Elizabeth Ringgold, the company allegedly violated the False Claims Act by concealing from a certifying entity that its technology lacked critical but required functions. Additionally, the company allegedly violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by giving credits worth up to $10,000 to customers whose recommendation of NextGen’s EHR software led to a new sale.  For launching a successful qui tam case, the whistleblowers will receive and share a $5.6 million share of the recovery.  DOJ

Catch of the Week: NextGen Healthcare

Posted  07/14/23
Medical Records Review
This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to electronic health record (EHR) technology vendor NextGen Healthcare Inc.  Today, DOJ announced the company has agreed to pay $31 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by misrepresenting to the government the capabilities of its EHR software and providing kickbacks to its users to induce them to recommend NextGen’s software.  The...

June 21, 2023

Skilled nursing facility Alta Vista Healthcare & Wellness Centre and its management company Rockport Healthcare Services have agreed to pay $3.8 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to physicians to induce referrals of Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to its center.  The violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, federal False Claims Act, and California False Claims Act were uncovered during a government investigation, and showed illegal kickbacks in the form of cash, gifts, and salaries paid from 2009 through 2019.  CA AG; DOJ

Catch of the Week: Smart Pharmacy, Inc.

Posted  06/16/23
topical cream spilled out
This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to Florida-based compounding pharmacies Smart Pharmacy, Inc. and SP2, and their owner Gregory Balotin.  Yesterday, they agreed to pay at least $7.4 million to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act by adding an antipsychotic drug to topical pain creams solely to boost Medicare reimbursement.  Not because of any medical purpose the drug...
1 2 3 58