Lack of Medical Necessity

December 19, 2013

Dr. Elie Korban will pay $1.2M to resolve False Claims Act allegations that he billed Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary cardiac stent placements. The allegations were first raised in a qui tam lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. DOJ

November 19, 2013

The Ensign Group agreed to pay $48M to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted to Medicare false claims for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services. The allegations were first raised in a qui tam lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act. DOJ

June 29, 2015

New York announced a settlement with pharmacy Trinity Homecare LLC that returns $2.5 million to the state’s Medicaid program. A whistleblower filed a lawsuit in 2009 alleging that Trinity pushed infusion drugs, which are prescribed to manage symptoms, to hemophilia patients and presented claims to Medicaid for unneeded or excessive quantity of these drugs. The whistleblower alleged improper billing for drug deliveries, including ones that patients refused to accept and excess shipments. In at least one instance, these expensive drugs were allegedly left outside a patient’s home without signature by the patient. NY

April 16, 2015

Georgia doctor Zheng Xiang Wang and the Wang Eye Clinic, P.C. agreed to pay $790,000 to settle allegations they billed Georgia Medicaid for medically unnecessary ophthalmology procedures. GA

Rose Cancer Center — Medicare Fraud ($5.7 million).

Two of our whistleblower attorneys co-led the representation of Kristi Beeson who reported Medicare fraud violations at her former employer Rose Cancer Center in Mississippi. Ms. Beeson, who was a laboratory technician for the clinic, brought a qui tam action under the False Claims Act against the clinic alleging, among other things, unqualified technicians performing bone marrow biopsies, diluting chemotherapy drugs, and doctoring patient records to conceal the clinic’s fraudulent Medicare billings. The physician who owned and ran the practice, Dr. Meera Sachdeva, plead guilty to various Medicare fraud violations, forfeited $5.7 million, and is now serving a 20 year prison sentence for her crimes. Ms. Beeson, along with three other whistleblowers, collectively received a whistleblower award of $525,000 for their efforts in exposing the fraud. See Clarion Ledger for more.