Posts Tagged ‘anti-kickback statute’
American Senior Communities Settles for $5.5 Million in FCA Case
Thanks to the work of a whistleblower, the U.S. Department of Justice recently settled with an Indiana-based skilled nursing and long-term care services company for $5.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act. A former American Senior Communities (ASC) employee filed a whistleblower lawsuit in 2017 alleging that that ASC was…
Read MorePractitioner Beware: OIG Issues Telemedicine Fraud Alert
The increasing number of fraudulent schemes involving telemedicine companies prompted the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services to recently issue a special fraud alert. The alert came on the heels of a nationwide crackdown on a $1.2 billion telemedicine fraud scheme leading to charges against three dozen defendants in…
Read MoreThree Dozen Charged in $1.2 Billion Healthcare Fraud Scheme
The U.S. Department of Justice, through coordinated investigations across 13 districts, has filed criminal charges against three dozen defendants who allegedly were involved in $1.2 billion in fraudulent telemedicine, cardiovascular and cancer genetic testing, and durable medical equipment schemes. Those charged include a telemedicine company executive, owners and executives of clinical laboratories, durable medical equipment…
Read MoreDME Owners Face 55 Years Behind Bars
The owners and operators of four orthotic brace suppliers in Texas and Arkansas recently were convicted for their part in a $6.5 million kickback scheme that included federal anti-kickback law violations. Husband and wife Bruce and Bobbi Stroud, along with Kenric Griffin, owned and operated New Horizons Durable Medical Equipment, Striffin Medical Supply, 4B Ortho…
Read MoreStates Benefit from Multimillion-Dollar FCA Urine Test Lab Settlement
Several states are now benefiting from a multimillion-dollar settlement agreement signed late last year by a Nevada clinical lab and two of its owners who were charged with submitting false claims for payment to federal healthcare programs. Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford recently announced that his state would receive $335,000 of the settlement money…
Read MoreOIG Gives Okay to Cost-Sharing Subsidy in Clinical Trial
A company that makes a medical device that uses a patient’s cells to treat ischemic systolic heart failure – a life-threatening cardiac condition – would not face sanctions if it paid Medicare participants’ cost-sharing obligations they would otherwise owe for reimbursable items and services provided during the 2-year study. That was the finding of a…
Read MoreOIG Advisory Opinion Okays Treatment-based Patient Incentives
A digital health company that uses smartphone and smart debit card technology to operate an incentive program for patients with substance use disorders was given a favorable advisory opinion by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) to provide patient incentives in the form of a debit card…
Read MorePharma Distributor Pays $13.1M to Settle FCA Allegations
Cardinal Health became the target of whistleblowers who alleged that the Ohio-based pharmaceutical distributor recruited new customers by offering and paying cash bonuses to physicians to purchase drugs from them instead of its competitors for use on Medicare and Medicaid patients in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act. As a result, the…
Read MoreOIG Gives Blessing to Alzheimer’s Study Payment Arrangement
On September 29, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General issued a favorable advisory opinion regarding the proposed subsidization of certain Medicare cost-sharing obligations relating to a clinical study of Alzheimer’s disease. The requestor is a professional medical society that represents radiologists and a charity that provides support and research…
Read MoreAbbott Laboratories’ Alere to Pay $160M to Settle FCA Claims
What once was one of the country’s largest Medicare mail-order diabetic testing suppliers and its parent company have agreed to pay $160 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act. The case was brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by Gregory Goodman against Arriva Medical LLC,…
Read More