September 11, 2017

Family Medicine Centers of South Carolina LLC agreed to pay $1.56 million, and the company’s principal owner and former CEO Dr. Stephen F. Serbin and its former Laboratory Director Victoria Serbin, agreed to pay $443,000 to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act and Stark Law.  Specifically, the government alleged FMC’s incentive compensation plan improperly paid FMC’s physicians a percentage of the value of laboratory and other diagnostic tests that they personally ordered through FMC.  Dr. Serbin allegedly initiated this program and reminded FMC’s physicians that they needed to order tests and other services through FMC in order to increase FMC’s profits and to ensure that their take-home pay remained in the upper level nationwide for family practice doctors.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former FMC physician Dr. Catherine A. Schaefer.  She will receive a whistleblower award of $340,510 from the proceeds of the government’s recovery. DOJ

Tagged in: Anti-Kickback and Stark, FCA Federal, Laboratory and IDTF, Provider Fraud, Whistleblower Case, Whistleblower Rewards,