Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The DOJ has charged a publicly traded Silicon Valley med tech firm and its CEO with touting a sham finger stick blood test to defraud payors and rip off … [Read more...]
Labs In Court
A roundup of recent cases and enforcement actions involving the diagnostics industry
April 27, 2020
Florida Lab, Execs Settle False Billing of Urine Drug Test Charges for $41 Million Case: Prosecutors accused a Tampa reference lab, pain clinic and two former executives of billing Medicare, … [Read more...]
SCORECARD
Scorecard: SVT False Billing Settlements Near the $3 Million Mark
March 9, 2020
Urine drug testing for purposes of medical treatment is deemed medically necessary under Medicare billing and payment rules. The same is not true for specimen validity tests (SVT), a quality control … [Read more...]
Labs in Court
Drug Abuse Treatment Owner Guilty of $57 Million Drug Test Pass-Thru Billing Conspiracy
February 6, 2020
Case: The owner of a northern Florida substance abuse treatment center pleaded guilty for his role in a $57 million pass-through lab testing billing and money laundering scheme. The way it worked: The … [Read more...]
Labs In Court
A roundup of recent cases and enforcement actions involving the diagnostics industry
January 27, 2020
Reference Lab Pays $26.7 Million to Settle False Claim Charges Case: The feds claim that Laboratory Boston Heart Diagnostics contracted to provide lab testing services to Texas hospitals in … [Read more...]
Whistleblowers: Hospitals, Labs Dodge a Major Stark/False Claims Act Bullet
January 27, 2020
It’s the moment of truth in a whistleblower case. The defendant claims the whistleblower’s claims aren’t legally valid and asks the court to dismiss the case without a trial. If the motion is … [Read more...]
ENFORCEMENT
Enforcement Trends: False Claims Act Recoveries Increase as Labs Remain in Firing Line
January 24, 2020
The dollars paid by healthcare providers in federal False Claims Act settlements and judgments increased for the second year in row in 2019. After a surprising decline in 2017, total recoveries … [Read more...]
