Anti-Kickback and Stark

July 24, 2017

New Jersey-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Celgene Corp. agreed to pay $280 million to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act by promoting two cancer treatment drugs -- Thalomid and Revlimid -- for uses not approved by the FDA.  The allegations included the use of false and misleading statements about the drugs, and paying kickbacks to physicians to induce them to prescribe the drugs.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former Celgene sales manager Beverly Brown.  She will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (CDCA)

July 17, 2017

Former Olympia Therapy Inc. employee Vladimir Trakhter and former Tridia Hospice Care Inc. employees Paula Bourne and La’Tasha Goodwin will collectively receive a whistleblower award of more than $3.6 million from the roughly $19.5 million Olympia, Tridia and Foundations Health Solutions Inc. agreed to pay 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.

July 6, 2017

Cathy Morris and Josie King, former employees of Compassionate Care Hospice of Atlanta, will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the $24 million the company and its parent Compassionate Care Hospice Group, Inc. agreed to pay to resolve charges they violated the False Claims Act and Stark Law by engaging in improper financial relationships with contracted physicians to induce them to refer patients.  DOJ (NDGA)

June 28, 2017

Paul Chan will receive a whistleblower award of more than $9.2 million from the $42 million to be paid by PAMC Ltd. and Pacific Alliance Medical Center Inc. (which together own and operate Los Angeles acute care hospital Pacific Alliance Medical Center) to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act and the Stark Law by engaging in improper financial relationships with referring physicians.  DOJ

June 20, 2017

New Jersey family doctor Bernard Greenspan was sentenced to 41 months in prison and to pay a $125,000 fine and a roughly $200,000 forfeiture for violating the Anti-Kickback Statute by accepting bribes in exchange for test referrals as part of a long-running scheme operated by Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC, its president and numerous associates. Greenspan’s referrals generated approximately $3 million in lab business for BLS. DOJ (DNJ)

June 15, 2017

Magdiel Garcia and the durable medical equipment company he owned, MAK Healthcare PC (d/b/a Multicare Plus), agreed to pay $225,000 to settle claims they violated the False Claims Act and The Stark Law by improperly self-referring Medicare beneficiaries for services and equipment to MAK. DOJ (EDPA)

June 14, 2017

Mildrey Gonzalez and her daughter Milka Alfaro were sentenced to 135 and 151 months in prison, respectively, and to pay roughly $22.9 million in restitution for their roles in a $20 million Medicare fraud conspiracy that involved paying illegal health care kickbacks to patient recruiters and medical professionals. They previously admitted they secretly co-owned and operated seven home health agencies in the Miami area, yet failed to disclose their ownership interests in any of these agencies to Medicare, as required by relevant rules and regulations. They further admitted to paying illegal health care kickbacks to a network of patient recruiters in order to bring Medicare beneficiaries into the scheme, to paying bribes and kickbacks to medical professionals in return for providing home health referrals, and to directing co-conspirators to open shell corporations, into which millions of dollars’ worth of fraud proceeds were funneled. DOJ