Free Testing Supplies to Physicians Costs Massachusetts Lab $1.374 Million
Case: A federal court ordered Calloway Laboratories, Inc. to pay $1,374,058 to settle claims of falsely billing Medicare and TRICARE for urine drug tests over a six-month period in 2014. As part of the settlement, the now defunct Woburn-Mass.-based lab admitted to offering free testing supplies to physicians in exchange for testing referrals. What would have been simply a kickback offense became a False Claims Act when Calloway subsequently billed Medicare and TRICARE for those tests. Significance: The Medicare and TRICARE civil judgment is the latest chapter for a lab involved in what the Mass. Attorney general described as “one of the most egregious Medicaid abuses our offices has handled.” In 2013-14, Calloway’s chief operating officer and three other individuals were convicted of using straw companies to funnel money bribes to employees of sober houses to generate urine drug testing referrals for patients covered by the MassHealth Medicaid program.
Case: A federal court ordered Calloway Laboratories, Inc. to pay $1,374,058 to settle claims of falsely billing Medicare and TRICARE for urine drug tests over a six-month period in 2014. As part of the settlement, the now defunct Woburn-Mass.-based lab admitted to offering free testing supplies to physicians in exchange for testing referrals. What would have been simply a kickback offense became a False Claims Act when Calloway subsequently billed Medicare and TRICARE for those tests.
Significance: The Medicare and TRICARE civil judgment is the latest chapter for a lab involved in what the Mass. Attorney general described as “one of the most egregious Medicaid abuses our offices has handled.” In 2013-14, Calloway’s chief operating officer and three other individuals were convicted of using straw companies to funnel money bribes to employees of sober houses to generate urine drug testing referrals for patients covered by the MassHealth Medicaid program.
Subscribe to view Essential
Start a Free Trial for immediate access to this article