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Medical Devices and DME

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to medical devices and durable medical equipment. You may also be interested in our pages:

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January 5, 2022

Two Florida men, Reinier Gonzalez Caballero and Alexeis Napoles Manresa, have each been sentenced to a little over four years in prison for laundering the ill-gotten proceeds of a $3 million healthcare fraud scheme against Medicare.  Over a couple months in 2019, durable medical equipment company Universal Ortho Supplies, Inc. billed Medicare for orthosis and prosthetics that were never prescribed by physicians, nor provided to patients.  The reimbursements were then turned over to the defendants, who attempted to disguise the source of the funds by setting up shell corporations and opening up fake bank accounts.  Two co-conspirators have already been convicted and sentenced; another two have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.  USAO SDFL

December 8, 2021

The owner and medical director of Georgia’s Milton Hall Surgical Associates, Jeffrey M. Gallups, will pay $3 million, and medical device manufacturer Entellus Medical will pay $1.2 million, to resolve claims that they entered into an unlawful kickback arrangement.  The government alleged that Gallups received cash payments and all-expense paid trips from Entellus in return for directing MHSA physicians to utilize sinuplasty related medical devices exclusively from Entellus and increase the number of sinuplasty procedures performed.  In addition, Gallups was alleged to have received “commissions” from medical testing laboratory NextHealth, in exchange for directing MHSA doctors to order medically unnecessary toxicology and genetic tests from NextHealth.  The settlement resolves a qui tam action initiated by former MHSA physician Myron Jones, M.D., who will receive approximately $614,000 from the settlement.  USAO ND GA

Recent Settlements Show Kickbacks are Always a DOJ Enforcement Priority

Posted  11/15/21
Person Handing Hundred Dollar Bill to Another Person
The Department of Justice regularly highlights the areas of fraudulent conduct it intends to target as enforcement priorities.  These identified enforcement priorities tend to cover burgeoning areas of fraud or particular misbehavior especially ripe or prevalent because of the particular times we live in.  As might be expected, DOJ's current listing of priorities includes fraud related to the pandemic, opioids, the

November 8, 2021

Florida-based medical device company Arthrex Inc. has agreed to pay $16 million and enter into a five-year corporate integrity agreement to resolve allegations of paying kickbacks to a Colorado-based orthopedic surgeon in exchange for the surgeon’s use and recommendation of its products.  According to a qui tam suit by whistleblower Joseph Shea, the kickbacks were disguised as royalty payments for the surgeon’s contributions to Arthrex’s SutureBridge and SpeedBridge products.  For his role in the case, Shea will receive a relator’s share of $2.5 million.  USAO MA

November 5, 2021

Two men who pleaded guilty to causing $134 million in false claims to be submitted to Medicare and CHAMPVA have been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay restitution of over $29 millionMichael Nolan of Florida was sentenced to 6.5 years, while Richard Epstein of Colorado was sentenced to about 5 years.  Using a telemarketing company called REMN Management LLC, as well as a telemedicine company called Comprehensive Telcare LLC, Nolan and Epstein had bribed physicians to sign medically unnecessary orders for durable medical equipment, which they then sold to co-conspirators as support for the false claims.  USAO MDFL

Catch of the Week: Fraudulent Sleep Tests in Fresno

Posted  10/29/21
bed with pillow and sheets scattered
Fraud permeates through all aspects of America’s healthcare system- from hospitals to big pharma to chiropractors. This week’s catch of the week focuses on another part of the system, sleep clinics. As increasing numbers of troubled sleepers are seeking diagnosis and treatment of chronic sleep disorders, the significant growth in sleep medicine over recent years brings increasing opportunities for the unscrupulous...

August 26, 2021

SuperCare Health, Inc., which provides home respiratory services and DME, will pay $3.3 million to resolve claims that the company submitted false claims for non-invasive ventilators in cases where those patients were no longer using the NIVs.  The case was initiated by the filing a whistleblower complaint by a former SuperCare respiratory therapist, Benjamin Martinez.  Mr. Martinez will receive a $612,000 whistleblower reward from the federal government.  USAO CD Cal

Catch of the Week: Telemedicine Company Owner Charged in $784 Million Kickback Scheme

Posted  08/20/21
Doctor on computer with patient discussing medicine
Underscoring the fraud risks associated with the government’s continued expansion and loosening of restrictions on telehealth, the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that a grand jury in New Jersey has returned a superseding indictment against the Florida owner of multiple telemedicine companies, referred to by DOJ prosecutors as the Video Doctor Network, for allegedly participating in a massive Medicare...

Catch of the Week: Waived Copayments and “Free” Glucometers Result in $160 Million Recovery in Whistleblower Action Against Previously-Barred Arriva Medical

Posted  08/4/21
Woman using glucometer and diabetes testing strips
Mail-order diabetes supply company Arriva Medical has agreed to pay $160 million to resolve a False Claims Act case filed in 2013 by a whistleblower who worked for ten months in one of the company’s call centers.  The government intervened in the whistleblower’s action in early 2019, and the case had been set for trial in June 2022. The settlement is the latest in a long string of actions against Arriva and...

August 2, 2021

Diabetic testing supply company Arriva Medical LLC and its parent company Alere Inc. will pay $160 million to resolve claims first brought in a whistleblower case alleging that Arriva provided unlawful patient inducements in the form of “free” or “no cost” glucometers and copayment waivers.  Defendants were alleged to have systematically provided all new patients with glucometers, and billed Medicare for those meters, although Medicare beneficiaries are only eligible for a new meter once every five years.  In addition, Arriva was alleged to have billed Medicare for deceased beneficiaries.  The whistleblower, Gregory Goodman, who was an employee at an Arriva call center, will receive a whistleblower award of $28.5 million.  Executives at Arriva previously agreed to a settlement of claims against them.  DOJ; USAO MD Tenn
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