While last week’s announced enforcement actions mainly involved healthcare companies and providers other than labs, the biggest announcement did involve orders for medically unnecessary urine drug tests. Most actions, however, related to medical device and equipment companies accused of false claims-related violations.
Healthcare-Related Enforcement Actions Announced from February 1 – February 8, 2023
| Date Action Announced | Defendant(s) | Allegations/Charges/Convictions | Result |
| Feb. 1 | Joint Active Systems, Inc. (JAS) | Allegedly bypassed North Carolina Medicaid regulations by causing its range-of-motion JAS EZ devices to be falsely billed as custom orthotics. Also accused of paying local providers to make the claims “on JAS’s behalf.” | Settled allegations for $500,000.1 |
| Feb. 2 | Clinica Sierra Vista (CSV) | Central California medical provider allegedly violated both the federal and California False Claims Act by underreporting its income. CSV voluntarily reported the violations to the appropriate enforcement agencies. | Settled allegations for $25.98 million, with the state receiving $15.59 million of that amount and the U.S. government receiving $10.39 million.2 |
| Feb. 3 | Deepak Raheja | Ohio physician was convicted for his role in a $2.1 million kickback scheme in which he and his co-conspirators increased the number of prescriptions they wrote for Nuedexta in exchange for kickbacks from the drug’s manufacturer, Avanir. Raheja wrote the highest number of prescriptions for the drug in the U.S., pocketing $331,550 in exchange, which was disguised as speaker’s fees. | Sentenced to 30 months in prison. Must also pay $2,163,995 in restitution and a $50,000 fine, as well as surrender his medical license.3 |
| Feb. 7 | 23 people from Michigan | Charged for their alleged involvement in two Medicare fraud schemes worth a combined $61.5 million. Those involved included home health agencies and operators who allegedly paid bribes and kickbacks in exchange for patient information that was then used to fraudulently bill Medicare for unnecessary home health services, including orders for high-reimbursing urine drug tests for patients. | The defendants face a variety of charges relating to healthcare fraud and kickbacks, with the counts carrying maximum sentences of between 5 and 10 years each.4 |
| Feb. 7 | · Ikechukwu Udeokoro · Ayodeji Fasonu | The two men, one of whom owned durable medical equipment supplier Meik Medical Equipment and Supply and one of whom was the manager of the company, were convicted of a $3.8 million Medicaid and Medicaid Advantage fraud scheme. The two falsely billed healthcare plans for pricey patient support systems, but instead only supplied patients with “recliner chairs that had a seat lift feature.” The two men received about $2.4 million from Medicaid and Medicaid Advantage as a result of the scheme. | Udeokoro and Fasonu were each convicted of healthcare fraud, with each facing up to 10 years in prison. They are set to be sentenced in August 2023.5 |
References:
- https://ncdoj.gov/attorney-general-josh-stein-announces-500000-medical-device-settlement/
- https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-and-us-attorney-talbert-announce-nearly-26-million
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/hudson-physician-sentenced-prison-and-ordered-pay-21-million-restitution-role
- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/twenty-three-individuals-charged-615-million-medicare-fraud-schemes
- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/medical-equipment-suppliers-convicted-health-care-fraud