Genetic Test Lab Pays Over $2.5 Million for Role in Nursing Home Scam
Case: Federal prosecutors accused a molecular testing lab owned by California-based AutoGenomics of carrying out a scheme to generate illegal referrals of tests on residents of 76 nursing homes that were then billed to Medicare. According to the complaint, AutoGenomics agreed to pay marketing firm a specified percentage of Medicare reimbursement for each genetic test patient. The fee was contingent on Medicare’s paying for the test. Rather than risk a trial, AutoGenomics agreed to settle the charges for $2,538,000. Significance: Prestige Healthcare, the owners of nursing homes in Wisconsin and other states, allegedly participated in the scheme by helping the marketing firm identify and gain access to their Medicare patients to collect buccal cell samples to send to AutoGenomics for testing. Prestige got off somewhat lighter, having paid about $1 million to settle its role in the scheme, which unfolded before Prescient Medicine acquired AutoGenomics in 2019.
Case: Federal prosecutors accused a molecular testing lab owned by California-based AutoGenomics of carrying out a scheme to generate illegal referrals of tests on residents of 76 nursing homes that were then billed to Medicare. According to the complaint, AutoGenomics agreed to pay marketing firm a specified percentage of Medicare reimbursement for each genetic test patient. The fee was contingent on Medicare’s paying for the test. Rather than risk a trial, AutoGenomics agreed to settle the charges for $2,538,000.
Significance: Prestige Healthcare, the owners of nursing homes in Wisconsin and other states, allegedly participated in the scheme by helping the marketing firm identify and gain access to their Medicare patients to collect buccal cell samples to send to AutoGenomics for testing. Prestige got off somewhat lighter, having paid about $1 million to settle its role in the scheme, which unfolded before Prescient Medicine acquired AutoGenomics in 2019.
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