Pain Clinic Co-Owner Pleads Guilty to Drug Testing Kickback Charges

Case: The Louisiana physician received $336,000 in kickbacks from a drug testing lab representing a percentage of the reimbursement proceeds generated via the referrals of Medicare patients’ urine samples for testing over a two-year period. He’ll be sentenced in March.

Significance: The other physician co-owner of Louisiana Spine & Sports LLC was indicted last year for his part in an alleged $4.4 million false billing scheme involving medically unnecessary quantitative urinalysis tests and billing for minor surgical procedures performed on days before or after patient visits.