Saturday, May 10, 2008

Tucson Company Faces Qui Tam Lawsuit

The Justice Department has joined in a lawsuit against Materials and Electrochemical Research Corporation (MER). According to the lawsuit, the company violated the False Claims Act by submitting falsified documents to obtain contracts from NASA, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense between 1999 and 2005.

The complaint says that the CEO of MER, James Withers, and the President, Raouf Loufty, created a fake company and claimed it would provide financing for research projects contracted by the government’s Small Business Innovative Research program.

Click here to read A.J. Flick’s article in the Tucson Citizen about Tuscon company faces qui tam lawsuit.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

California Adult Health Care Facility Settles False Claims Lawsuit

The owners of a California day care facility for adults have agreed to pay the federal government $450,000 to settle a qui tam suit that alleged the facility submitted false claims to the state’s Medi-Cal program.

The suit, filed by former employee Deborah Baskin, alleged that that the facility falsified individualized care plans to qualify patients for funding of unnecessary services, falsified medical records in support of the plans, and billed Medi-Cal for improper and unnecessary therapy. 

Under the terms of the agreement, the owners are required to pay the federal government $100,000 immediately and the balance in quarterly installments over five years with five percent interest compounded quarterly.  Of this, California is to receive $189,000, and Baskin is to receive 16% of the total amount received.

Click here to read Denny Walsh’s article in the Sacramento Bee $450,000 settlement in Natomas whistleblower case.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Savannah hospital company to pay $5 M in suit settlement

Memorial Health, parent company of Savannah’s Memorial University Medical Center, has agreed to pay the U.S. Government $5.08 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged the hospital had made improper payments to physicians.

The suit, filed in 2006 by Dr. Ryan Boland, accused the hospital and other defendants of making false claims to the federal government.  Additionally, the suit claimed that the hospital violated Medicare rules that prohibit doctors from referring patients to a hospital if they receive compensation that’s commercially unreasonable.  Dr. Boland, a former opthalmologist for the Georgia Eye Institute, will receive $889,000 for his whistleblowing role in the lawsuit.

Click here to read Jan Skutch’s article in the Augusta Chronicle, Savannah hospital company will pay $5 M in suit settlement.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Illinois Dental Management Co. to Pay $3M to Settle Allegations of Improper Billing

An Illinois company that manages dental practices in 12 states and its CEO have agreed to pay $1.65 Million to settle claims of improper billing to Illinois Medicaid.  The company, Heartland Dental, Inc., also will pay $1.35 Million to settle allegations that newly hired dentists issued prescriptions prior to registration with the DEA as a means to generate revenue for Heartland. 

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2003 by Lori Jamison under the federal False Claims Act.  Ms. Jamison, a former employee of one of Heartland’s predecessor entities, will receive $412,500 as her share of the settlement.

Click here to read the PressZoom press release Illinois Dental Management Company to pay $3 Million to Settle Allegations of False Billing, Dentist Registration.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Florida Radiologist to Pay $7 Million to Resolve Fraud Claims

A board-certified radiologist, Fred Steinberg, M.D., his imaging centers and related entities in Palm Beach County have reached a settlement to resolve allegations of health care fraud.  Steinberg had faced a whistleblower lawsuit brought by former-employee David Clayman, M.D.  Clayman alleged that portions of CT scans were not performed by Steinberg’s imaging centers, even though the procedures were billed and reported to patients’ physicians as if they were done.  The bills were submitted to federal healthcare programs like Medicare.

“Billing Medicare for tests that are either not medically necessary or not performed is an abuse of the Medicare program that squanders scare dollars,” said R. Alexander Acosta, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.  “We will aggressively prosecute any physicians, including board-certified specialists, who abuse and steal from the Medicare system to line their own pockets.

Dr. Clayman will receive $1.75 million as his share of the recovery in the qui tam lawsuit.

Click here to read the Department of Justice article about Florida Radiologist to Pay $7 Million to Resolve Fraud Claims.

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