Catch of the Week: Laboratory and Two Founders Will Pay up to $16M Over Fraudulent Billing for Urine Drug Testing
Posted 10/22/21
Whistleblower Case
This archive displays posts tagged as involving a whistleblower case or claim. You may also be interested in our pages:
Largest-Ever Whistleblower Award Nets CFTC Tipster Almost $200 Million
Posted 10/22/21
October 20, 2021
South Carolina provider Colonial Family Practice, LLC, has agreed to pay $1.25 million to resolve claims that they submitted false claims to Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE for medically unnecessary nuclear stress tests and Cystatin-C tests, the latter of which were routinely submitted as part of a panel run on most patients, despite being payable for only a narrow set of patients. The settlements resolve two qui tam actions brought by a former clinical manager and by a former physician assistant. USAO SCOctober 20, 2021
MD Spine Solutions LLC, d/b/a MD Labs Inc., and its owners, co-founders Denis Grizelj and Matthew Rutledge, have agreed to pay up to $16 million to settle fraud allegations raised by an unnamed whistleblower. MD Labs had allegedly billed Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs for presumptive urine drug testing as well as confirmatory urine drug testing run on the same samples, which is frequently baseless or useless. USAO MAOctober 14, 2021
Owners and executives of Massachusetts mental health provider South Bay Mental Health Center, Inc. have agreed to pay $25 million to resolve claims that they caused the submission of false claims to the state’s Medicaid program, MassHealth, by billing for services provided by unlicensed, unqualified, and improperly supervised staff members in violation of MassHealth regulations. Defendants H.I.G. Growth Partners, LLC and H.I.G. Capital, LLC will pay $19.95 million and defendants Peter J. Scanlon and Kevin P. Sheehan, who held executive and board positions at relevant entities, will pay $5.05 million. The case was initiated by the filing of a whistleblower complaint under the Massachusetts False Claims Act. SBMHC previously agreed to pay $4 million to resolve related charges. MassOctober 8, 2021
U.S. Medical Management, LLC (USMM) and VPA, P.C. (VPA) have agreed to pay $8.5 million to resolve claims raised in five separate qui tam lawsuits that USMM and VPA billed Medicare for medically unnecessary laboratory and diagnostic testing services between 2010 and 2015. Although the government did not join any of the lawsuits, the whistleblower who filed first will receive $1.53 million under the alternate remedy provision of the False Claims Act. USAO EDMIOctober 6, 2021
Defense contractor Crane Company has agreed to pay over $4.5 million to resolve allegations of violating the False Claims Act. According to a former Crane employee, Corla Jacobson, the failures occurred between 2011 and 2017 and involved selling the U.S. Navy high performance butterfly valves that did not conform to military specifications. For initiating a successful qui tam action, Jacobson will receive a relator’s share of over $850,000. USAO SDTXSeptember 27, 2021
The State of New York has reached a $6 million settlement with electricity provider National Grid to resolve a fraud investigation launched by a whistleblower’s qui tam suit. As part of its contract with the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA), National Grid was tasked with reading meters, collecting payments, and providing customer service, while LIPA provided the actual electricity. For over four years, however, National Grid allegedly underreported the amount of electricity being delivered to homes and businesses, costing LIPA and the state millions in lost revenue. The whistleblower in this matter will receive $1.41 million, while the settlement proceeds will go toward subsidizing energy upgrades for low-income residents. NY AGCatch of the Week: Bayada Home Health Care Settles Kickback Allegations for $17 Million in Case Demonstrating that Kickbacks Come in Many Forms
Posted 09/17/21
U.S. Pursuit of Risk Adjustment Fraud Continues with Complaint in Intervention in Case Filed by Constantine Cannon Client against Independent Health and its Coding Subsidiary DxID
Posted 09/16/21
