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Other Government Health Programs

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to government healthcare programs other than Medicare and Medicaid, and fraud in those programs. You may also be interested in our pages:

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October 12, 2022

Four pharmacies have agreed to pay over $6.8 million to settle a qui tam suit that alleged they defrauded TRICARE and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, in violation of the False Claims Act.  According to a former accountant for one of the pharmacies, DermaTran Health Solutions, LLC; Pharmacy Insurance Administrators, LLC; Legends Pharmacy; TriadRx; and Lake Side Pharmacy created a program to waive mandatory copays for beneficiaries of federal health insurers, overcharged the government for compounded pain creams, and traded out-of-network prescriptions with other pharmacies, which constituted a kickback.  USAO NDGA

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Other Government Health Programs, Pharma Fraud,

October 6, 2022

A man in Missouri who was convicted of committing healthcare fraud through various durable medical equipment companies has been sentenced to 3 years in prison and ordered to repay $7.5 million.  Jamie McCoy, who owned or operated AE Wellness LLC, Summit Medical Supply, Patriot Medical Supply, and DME Device Co., had worked in conjunction with marketing firms and a telemedicine doctor to cause fraudulent claims derived from illegal kickbacks to be submitted to Medicare and TRICARE.  After the scheme was discovered and McCoy and AE Wellness were suspended from further participation, two of McCoy’s associates opened the other companies to continue the fraud, while concealing McCoy’s role in the operation.  USAO EDMO

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Devices and DME, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs,

August 23, 2022

Texas-based Cockerell Dermatopathology (CDP) has agreed to pay $3.75 million to resolve allegations of allowing millions of dollars in fraudulent claims to be submitted to TRICARE, in violation of the False Claims Act.  According to a government suit, CDP’s principal physician, Dr. Clay Cockerell, had allowed laboratory management company Progen to use its license to submit false claims for medically unnecessary tests in exchange for a twenty percent cut of the proceeds.  USAO NDTX

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

July 20, 2022

Texas-based clinical laboratory Inform Diagnostics, Inc., formerly known as Miraca Life Sciences, Inc., has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act.  Inform admitted that it had a policy of conducting additional tests on biopsy specimens without an individualized determination on whether additional tests were medically necessary, then submitting bills for those unauthorized and unnecessary tests to Medicare and other federal healthcare programs.  USAO MA

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs,

June 6, 2022

SNAP Diagnostics LLC, along with its founder, Gil Raviv, and vice president, Stephen Burton, will pay a combined $3.925 million to settle allegations of False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute violations. SNAP routinely submitted claims for Medicare and TRICARE patients’ second and third nights of home sleep testing, when patients with private health insurance were routinely billed only for the first night. Additionally, SNAP multiplied copays from senior citizen Medicare beneficiaries, and incentivized physicians to refer their patients for sleep testing services. USAO NDIL

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs, Provider Fraud,

June 3, 2022

Rodney L. Yentzer will pay $900,000 for violating the False Claims Act. Through Pain Medicine of York, a group of clinics he controlled, Yentzer caused the submission of false claims for payment to Medicare for urine drug tests that were not medically reasonable or necessary and were not used to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. He is excluded from participation in all federal health care programs for 22 years. In March of 2022, Yentzer pleaded guilty to Health Care Fraud, Money Laundering, and Theft of Public Money for defrauding Medicare, Medicaid, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services between 2016 and 2020. USAO MDPA

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Laboratory and IDTF, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs, Provider Fraud,

June 2, 2022

Middle Georgia Family Rehab (MGFR) has been ordered to pay $9.6 million in damages after a judge for the Middle District of Georgia found the facility had fraudulently billed TRICARE and Medicaid.  In an April order granting partial summary judgment, the Court determined that approximately 800 claims submitted to federal healthcare programs were billed under therapists who were not employed at MGFR at the time of alleged service.  USAO MDGA

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Medical Billing Fraud, Other Government Health Programs,

May 18, 2022

Pat Truglia will spend 120 months in prison, forfeit over $9.4 million, and will pay restitution of $33.7 million for conspiring to defraud Medicare, TRICARE, and CHAMPVA, among others, of approximately $50 million through their fraudulent billing scheme. The scheme involved offering, paying, soliciting, and receiving kickback for durable medical equipment—in this case, braces. Truglia and his conspirators obtained DME orders for Medicare and other federal healthcare program beneficiaries by running multiple call centers, which paid kickbacks and bribes to telemedicine companies, who then paid doctors to write medically unnecessary orders. The orders were filled by Truglia’s companies, who then fraudulently billed the healthcare programs. USAO NJ

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, Criminal Proceedings, Healthcare Fraud, Lack of Medical Necessity, Medical Devices and DME, Medicare, Other Government Health Programs, Provider Fraud,

May 18, 2022

Peter Bolos and Michael Palso, owners of Synergy Pharmacy, were sentenced to 14 years and 33 months in prison, respectively, and each will pay $24.6 million in restitution for defrauding pharmacy benefit managers into authorizing millions of dollars in claims paid to pharmacies controlled by the defendants. Bolos will forfeit an additional $2.5 million. The conspiracy involved cold-calling patients and deceiving them into accepting certain drugs (i.e., pain creams, scar creams, and vitamins) and providing their personal insurance information to receive them. The scheme impacted both private and public insurers, including Medicaid and TRICARE. DOJ, USAO EDTN

Tagged in: Compounding Pharmacy Fraud, Criminal Proceedings, FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medicaid, Other Government Health Programs,

April 29, 2022

Eargo Inc., which sells direct-to-consumer hearing aid devices to customers nationwide, has agreed to pay $34.37 million to resolve allegations of defrauding the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) over a four-year period.  Eargo allegedly submitted or caused to be submitted claims that contained unsupported diagnosis codes, even though an internal review of its billing and coding practices should have detected the error.  DOJ

Tagged in: FCA Federal, Healthcare Fraud, Medical Billing Fraud, Medical Devices and DME, Other Government Health Programs,

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