Anti-Kickback and Stark

July 21, 2017

Baton Rouge-based home healthcare company Charter Home Health agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by paying for patient referrals.  DOJ (MDLA)

July 17, 2017

Ohio-based nursing home operators Foundations Health Solutions Inc., Olympia Therapy Inc. and Tridia Hospice Care Inc., and their executives Brian Colleran and Daniel Parker, agreed to pay roughly $19.5 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by submitting to Medicare claims for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services and for hospice services to patients not eligible for the Medicare benefit, and by soliciting and receiving kickbacks to refer patients from their skilled nursing facilities to home health care provider Amber Home Care LLC.  The allegations originated in two whistleblower lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former Olympia employee Vladimir Trakhter and former Tridia employees Paula Bourne and La’Tasha Goodwin.  Mr. Trahkter will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $2.9 million and Ms. Bourne and Ms. Goodwin collectively will receive an award of roughly $740,000, all from the proceeds of the government’s recovery.  Whistleblower Insider

July 6, 2017

New Jersey-based Compassionate Care Hospice Group, Inc. agreed to pay $2.4 million to resolve charges that the company and its subsidiary Compassionate Care Hospice of Atlanta violated the False Claims Act and Stark Law by engaging in improper financial relationships with contracted physicians to induce them to refer patients.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former CCH Atlanta employees Cathy Morris and Josie King.  They will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (NDGA)

June 28, 2017

PAMC Ltd. and Pacific Alliance Medical Center Inc., which together own and operate Pacific Alliance Medical Center, an acute care hospital located in Los Angeles, agreed to pay $42 million to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act and the Stark Law by engaging in improper financial relationships with referring physicians.  These relationships took the form of (1) arrangements under which the defendants allegedly paid above-market rates to rent office space in physicians’ offices, and (2) marketing arrangements that allegedly provided undue benefit to physicians’ practices.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Paul Chan, who was employed as a manager by one of the defendants.  He will receive a whistleblower award of more than $9.2 million from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ

July 26, 2017

Washington recovered nearly $750,000 in Medicaid reimbursement this week from pharmaceutical company Celgene Corporation for promoting medications to treat conditions they were not approved for, including certain types of cancer. The company is also accused of paying kickbacks to doctors for prescribing the medications and helping them change billing codes to ensure Medicaid would pay for their use. Off-label marketing, fraudulent billing and providing kickbacks to doctors are all violations of the Medicaid False Claims Act. WA