FCA Federal

December 20, 2018

Pain specialist Dr. Jonathan Daitch, a principal in Ft. Myers-based Advanced Pain Management Specialists, P.A., has agreed to pay more than $1.7 million to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act.  Dr. Daitch caused Medicare and Tricare to be billed for medically-unnecessary urine drug testing performed at Advanced Pain's in-house laboratory.  In addition, Daitch received kickbacks for anesthesia services.  A co-owner of Advanced Pain, Dr. Michael Frey, previously agreed to pay $2.8 million to settle similar claims.  USAO MD Fla

December 19, 2018

Arvco Container Corporation of Kalamazoo, Michigan, will pay $400,000 to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by performing 100% of the manufacturing work on a contract that had been awarded by the Defense Logistics Agency to Fibre Technologies LLC in Reading, Pennsylvania, subject to a HUBZone small business program that barred Fibre from subcontracting the entire manufacturing.  USAO MD Pa

December 19, 2018

Molecular Testing Labs, based in Vancouver, Washington, has agreed to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act by paying local laboratories in exchange for referrals, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.  The amount of the settlement will be determined in ongoing litigation between Molecular Testing Labs and CMS, and could be between $180,000 and $1,777,738. USAO WDWA

December 19, 2018

A vascular surgeon and his practice group, Dr. Irfan Siddiqui and the Heart and Vascular Institute of Florida (HAVI), have agreed to pay $2.23 million to settle a False Claims Act brought by a whistleblower, Lois Hawks, who had been a patient of the doctor.  Defendants were alleged to have submitted false claims for vein ablation services that were not medically necessary, were performed by unqualified personnel, or were based on medical records containing false diagnoses and symptoms.  In addition, defendants were alleged to have upcoded evaluation and management service claims.  Ms. Haws will receive a relator's share of $446,000.  USAO MDFL

December 17, 2018

Progressive Technology Federal Systems, Inc. and its CEO, John Yokley, have agreed to pay $110,000 to resolve allegations under the federal False Claims Act that they misrepresented a consultant's security clearance and failed to disclose a conflict of interest in bidding to perform IT work for the Army and Air Force.  PTFS bid on the contract through the cooperative purchasing program of the National Institutes of Health’s Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center, NITAAC, which enables federal agencies to contract for information technology services. USAO CO

December 17, 2018

Margarita Palomino, of Homestead, Florida, has been sentenced to over six years in prison for her part in a health care scheme which defrauded Medicare out of $4.65 million. The scheme involved three home health agencies that claimed to provide services to Medicare patients. Palomino, licensed as a physician in Cuba, but not in the United States, admitted that she provided home health care nursing visits and prepared the accompanying medical records as would a licensed medical professional in the U.S. Furthermore, between the approximate time of January 2010 and January 2014, Palomino admitted to accepting kickbacks in return for the referral of Medicare beneficiaries, the majority of whom did not need or even qualify for the services. In addition to spending 78 months in prison, Palomino has been ordered to pay $4,658,241.00 in restitution and to forfeit $186,650.50.  DOJ        

December 14, 2018

Tamar Tatarian, owner of Akhtmar Pharmacy, was found guilty for her part in a scheme to defraud Medicare out of more than $1.3 million in false claims for prescription drugs. According to evidence presented during the two-day trial, Tatarian submitted false claims to Medicare Part D plan sponsors between October 2015 and October 2017 for prescription drugs that Akhtmar pharmacy had not actually ordered from wholesalers, and therefore were not dispensed to Medicare beneficiaries. Tartarian tried to cover up the fraud by generating fake invoices that included wholesale drug purchases by the pharmacy which had not, in reality, ever happened. Tatarian was convicted of one count of health care fraud and two counts of wire fraud. DOJ