Anti-Kickback and Stark
This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law.
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Top-10 False Claims Act Kickback Recoveries For 2016
Posted 01/4/17
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Here is our look-back at the top-10 Department of Justice False Claims Act recoveries in 2016 for violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and/or the Stark Law. Click here for a full chronological listing of all the DOJ False Claims Act recoveries in 2016.
- Lexington Medical Center -- The South Carolina hospital agreed to pay $17 million to resolve allegations it violated...
December 15, 2016
Raciel Leon, manager of Mercy Home Care Inc. and a billing employee for D&D&D Home Health Care Inc. was convicted for his role in a $2.5 million Medicare fraud scheme. According to evidence presented at trial, Leon and his co-conspirators used the companies to submit false claims to Medicare that were based on services that were not medically necessary, not actually provided and for patients that were procured through the payment of illegal kickbacks to doctors and patient recruiters. DOJDecember 15, 2016
New York City-based Forest Laboratories LLC and its subsidiary Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay $38 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute by paying kickbacks to induce physicians to prescribe the drugs Bystolic, Savella and Namenda. According to the government, Forest provided payments and meals to certain physicians in connection with speaker programs about the drugs as improper inducements to prescribe them. The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Forest employee Kurt Kroening under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. He will receive a whistleblower award of approximately $7.8 million from the proceeds of the government’s recovery. Whistleblower InsiderDecember 2, 2016
Vitas Health Corporation Midwest and related entities agreed to pay $200,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute by paying Dr. Farid Fata for patient referrals to its hospice care services. In an earlier unrelated criminal matter, Fata pleaded guilty to health care fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks and promotional money laundering, and was sentenced to a term of 45 years in prison. The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Rita Dubois who worked at Vitas as the Director of Market Development in Southeastern Michigan. Dubois will receive a whistleblower award of $36,000 from the proceeds of the government's recovery. DOJ (EDMI)November 15, 2016
New Jersey-based remote cardiac monitoring company MedNet Inc., and a subsidiary of BioTelemetry Inc., agreed to pay more than $1.35 million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to induce physicians to use the company’s cardiac monitoring services. According to the government, from March 2006 through January 2014, before BioTelemetry acquired MedNet, MedNet entered into “fee-for-service” or “direct-bill” agreements with certain hospital and physician clinic customers which allowed them to bill Medicare directly for these same services and retain the reimbursements they received which exceeded the fees that MedNet charged them. The government alleged that the remuneration MedNet provided in connection with the agreements was illegal remuneration under the Anti-Kickback Statute. The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. DOJ (DNJ)U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General Advisory Opinion: Free Lab Labeling Services May Violate Anti-Kickback Statute
Posted 12/14/16
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
The U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) recently reiterated that “The OIG’s position on the provision of free or below-market goods or services to actual or potential referral sources is longstanding and clear: such arrangements are suspect and may violate the anti-kickback statute, depending on the circumstances.”
In addition to...