Medicaid Archives - Page 5 of 41

November 14, 2022

The Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association and a related entity, which were created by the State of Florida to provide compensation for the medical, rehabilitative and custodial care of children who suffered certain categories of birth-related neurological injuries, will pay $51 million to resolve a whistleblower’s qui tam lawsuit, pursued on a non-intervened basis, alleging that they fraudulently caused NICA participants to submit their healthcare claims to Medicaid rather than NICA, in violation of Medicaid’s status as the payer of last resort under federal law. The relators, Veronica Arven and the estate of Theodore Arven III, will receive $12,750,000 as their share of the recovery. DOJ

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

October 17, 2022

Sutter Health has agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle claims of billing Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program for quantitative urine testing that were in fact performed by third-party labs. The company has already paid more than $6.5 million and is due to pay the remaining $6.5 million in the next 30 days. USAO NDCA

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Medicaid, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs,

October 3, 2022

South Carolina-based Radeas, LLC has agreed to pay $3.6 million to settle allegations of submitting false claims to North Carolina’s Medicaid program. Radeas had allegedly billed Medicaid for simultaneously-performed presumptive and definitive urine drug tests, in violation of Medicaid policy and standard practice to run definitive tests after presumptive tests come back positive. NC AG

Tagged in: FCA State, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Medicaid,

September 27, 2022

Following a whistleblower complaint that alleged Massachusetts-based Public Consulting Group LLC (PCG) overbilled Medicaid, in violation of the False Claims Act, the company has agreed to pay $2.5 million. According to whistleblower Shane Shackford, PCG caused local school districts to submit false claims to Medicaid while under contract with the State of New Jersey to administer its Special Education Medicaid Initiative (SEMI) program—which provides federal funding to the state and local school districts for providing certain medical services to eligible students. For his role in the case, Shackford will received a 21% share of the settlement. USAO NJ

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,

September 26, 2022

Biogen Inc. has agreed to pay $900 million to resolve allegations by former employee Michael Bawduniak that the pharmaceutical company paid illegal kickbacks to physicians in order to induce prescriptions of their multiple sclerosis drugs, causing false claims to be submitted to Medicare and Medicaid. According to Bawduniak, over a five-year period, Biogen paid kickbacks in the form of speaker honoraria, training fees, consulting fees, and free meals. The vast majority of the settlement proceeds (over $840 million) will go to the federal government, while the remainder will be divided among 15 states. USAO MA

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medicare, Pharma Fraud, Whistleblower Case,

September 9, 2022

Daniel Pintado Cazola, the true owner of durable medical equipment company Myers Professional Services, has been sentenced to over 7 years in prison for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid and going to great extents to conceal his connection to the crimes. Pintado Cazola admitted that he purchased lists of Medicare beneficiaries and directed employees to submit over $2.3 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for durable medical equipment that was not medically necessary, not prescribed by a doctor, and not supplied to a beneficiary. USAO SDFL

Tagged in: Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medical Devices and DME, Medicare,

August 24, 2022

Centene will pay Washington State $19 million to resolve allegations that the company overcharged the state for pharmacy benefit management services. The state alleged that Centene failed to pass on discounts it received to the state Medicaid program, and inflated dispensing fees. WA

Tagged in: Drug and DME Pricing, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Pharma Fraud,

August 23, 2022

Essilor International and related subsidiaries, which manufacture, market, and distribute optical lenses and equipment to produce optical lenses—have agreed to pay $22 million to resolve federal and state allegations of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. In two separate qui tam suits, former sales managers Laura Thompson and Lisa Brez, and Christie Rudolph alleged that Essilor violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act by paying illegal kickbacks to optometrists and opthalmologists to induce purchases of their products for patients, including patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid. $5.6 million of the total settlement was allocated between states that were parties to the settlements, and $16.4 million to the federal government. DOJ; USAO EDPA; USAO NDTX; CO; CT; SD (see later CA settlement)

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, FCA State, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medical Devices and DME, Medicare, Whistleblower Case,

August 18, 2022

The organized healthcare system for Ventura County, as well as three healthcare providers, have agreed to pay a combined total of $70.7 million to resolve allegations of violating the California and federal False Claims Acts in connection with Medi-Cal’s Adult Expansion program, which extended coverage to previously uninsured adults without dependents. Gold Coast Health Plan, Dignity Health, Clinicas del Camino Real, Inc., and Ventura County (the owner and operator of Ventura County Medical Center) allegedly submitted, or caused to be submitted, bills for unallowed expenses, bills for “Additional Services” that were duplicative of services already required, and bills with pre-determined costs that weren’t reflective of fair market value. CA AG; USAO CDCA

Tagged in: FCA Federal, FCA State, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Provider Fraud,

July 27, 2022

ca Glenn Pair and Markuetric Stringfellow will spend 70 and 78 months in prison, respectively, and pay over $5 million each in restitution for defrauding three States’ Medicaid programs of more than $5 million, and for receiving $1.8 million in kickbacks from participating laboratories. The two owned and operated Do-It-4-The Hood Corporation in North Carolina and later expanded to Georgia. They targeted Medicare-eligible children, enrolled them in their programs, and required them to submit urine specimens for drug testing. Drug testing was in turn billed to Medicaid by complicit laboratories, who then paid kickbacks after receiving Medicaid reimbursement. Through their Wrights Care Services LLC franchise in South Carolina, the two filed fraudulent Medicaid claims for mental health counseling, going so far as to host a “note party,” upon learning of a Medicare audit of Wrights Care, to cover up their scheme by creating false billing records to substantiate their fraudulent Medicaid claims. USAO WDNC, USAO SC

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA State, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medicare, Provider Fraud,

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