Healthcare Fraud

Oglethorpe and Three Executives Agree to Pay $32 Million to Settle FCA Case

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team According to a recent DOJ press release, Oglethorpe, Inc., a company that operates psychiatric hospitals, and three of its executives have agreed to pay $32 million to settle a False Claims Act case alleging a failure to return Medicare overpayments in connection with patient admissions at Oglethorpe facilities.[1]  The DOJ partially intervened in the case prior to the...

Health Care Practice and Doctor Agree to Pay Over $6.73 Million to Settle False Claims Act Case

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that a California-based health care practice and a doctor have agreed to pay $6.73 million to settle allegations of violating the False Claims Act.[1]  The DOJ alleged that the practice, called Feliciano Serrano, M.D., Inc. d/b/a Serrano Kidney & Vascular Access Center, and Dr. Serrano submitted or caused...

Government Seizes $2M+ from California Wound Care Clinic Over Alleged Medicare Skin Graft Fraud

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team On April 28, a federal court granted the government’s request to seize over $2 million from a California clinic, Expert Wound Care, which allegedly defrauded Medicare by billing for skin grafts and skin graft substitutes that patients never received. United States Magistrate Judge Alicia G. Rosenberg authorized the seizure of roughly $2,039,792 from a bank account...

PET Scan Provider to Pay $8.3M to Resolve Allegations of Kickbacks and False Claims Act Violations

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team California-based medical scan provider, Modern Nuclear Inc. (MNI), agreed to pay $8,334,350, and additional money based on future revenue, to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying referring cardiologists hefty fees to supervise positron emission tomography (PET) scans, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.[1]

What Did the Alleged...

Podiatrist and Pharma Sales Rep Sentenced in Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team  Earlier this month, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California announced that a federal district judge sentenced Felipe Ruiz and Jose Gabriel Aguirre to 63 months in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  In addition to the prison sentences, the judge also ordered forfeiture of nine properties owned by the defendants, as well as...

Texas Fugitive Caught and Sentenced to 12+ Years in Prison for $61M Telemarketing Fraud Scheme Targeting Medicare Beneficiaries

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team  On March 25, a federal court sentenced Texas resident Robert “Bobby” Leon Smith III to 150 months in prison and two years of supervised release for allegedly orchestrating a $61.5 million healthcare fraud and wire fraud scheme. The scheme relied on deceptive telemarketing tactics that targeted thousands of Medicare beneficiaries and resulted in shipments of...

Physical Therapy Company to Pay Millions to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team On March 25, Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, announced that Team Rehabilitation Services, LLC (“Team Rehab”), a company operating around 140 physical therapy clinics in various states, agreed to pay $4,969,494 to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for payment to federal...

Healthcare Management Corporation to Pay $4M to Resolve False Claims Act Charges

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team Maryland-based CVR Management, LLC, the Center for Vein Restoration, Center for Vascular Medicine (CVM), LLC, and Sanjiv Lakhanpal, MD, FACS (the entities’ CEO and president and CVM’s chairman of the board), agreed to pay $4 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for medically unnecessary...

Cardiology Group to Pay $4.75M to Settle Allegations of Unnecessary Vein Procedures

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team  On March 12, an Arizona-based physician group Tri-City Cardiology, P.C. and three physicians agreed to pay $4.75 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by performing medically unnecessary vein procedures. [1]

What Does the Civil Settlement Address?

The civil settlement resolves claims that from January 1, 2017, through April 27, 2022,...

Former NFL Player Turned Lab Owner Convicted in $328 Million Genetic Testing Fraud Scheme

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team  In February, a federal jury in Texas convicted lab owner Keith J. Gray, a former NFL player, for his role in a $328 million genetic testing fraud scheme involving two clinical labs he owned and operated: Axis Professional Labs LLC (Axis) and Kingdom Health Laboratory LLC (Kingdom).[1] The jury found Gray guilty of (1) conspiracy to defraud the United States and to...