Attorney General Maura Healey announced that South Bay Mental Health Center, Inc. (SBMHC) has agreed to pay $4 million based on allegations that it fraudulently billed the state’s Medicaid Program, known as MassHealth, for mental health care services provided to patients by unlicensed, unqualified, and unsupervised staff members at clinics across the state. Under the…
Tampa’s Largest Ambulance Providers Agree To Pay $5.5 Million To Resolve Whistleblower Case
On January 30, United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announced that AmeriCare Ambulance Service, Inc. and its sister company, AmeriCare ALS, Inc. agreed to pay approximately $5.5 million to resolve allegations that they defrauded Medicare by billing for medically unnecessary ambulance transportation services. The suit was initially filed by a “qui tam” whistleblower who will…
Whistleblower Case Yields $10.5M Against Importer for Furniture Featured by Kim Kardashian
A Virginia importer of Chinese mirrored furniture that became popular when Kim Kardashian selected it for her mansion bedroom has agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle claims it improperly evaded federal anti-dumping duties, the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday. The settlement of the whistleblower suit against Bassett Mirror Inc. follows a similar $15 million settlement last year by…
Whistleblower Suit Leads to Massachusetts AG Filing Action Against Mental Health Company for Providing Substandard Care
Mental health provider South Bay Mental Health Center, which serves tens of thousands of vulnerable patients, a number of them in Dorchester, MA, fraudulently billed the state Medicaid program by providing services through unlicensed, unqualified, and unsupervised employees, according to a lawsuit filed against the company by Attorney General Maura Healey. After a whistleblower lawsuit…
Justice Department Recovers Over $3.7 Billion From False Claims Act Cases in Fiscal Year 2017
The Department of Justice obtained more than $3.7 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2017. Recoveries since 1986, when Congress substantially strengthened the civil False Claims Act, now total more than $56 billion. Of the $3.7 billion in…
Whistleblowers Help United States Recover $67 Million from Davita RX LLC for Improper Billing and Kickbacks
DaVita Rx LLC, a nationwide pharmacy that specializes in serving patients with severe kidney disease, agreed to pay a total of $63.7 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations relating to improper billing practices and unlawful financial inducements to federal healthcare program beneficiaries, the Justice Department announced today. DaVita Rx is based in Coppell, Texas….
Report: Wisconsin Taxpayers Lose Out On Millions After Repeal of Wisconsin False Claims Act
Wisconsin taxpayers have missed out on millions of dollars in settlements after state officials quietly eliminated one of the most effective tools for rooting out fraud in the $9 billion-a-year state Medicaid program, interviews and public records show. Click here to read report
Whistleblowers Lead to Chemed Corp. & Vitas Hospice Paying $75 Million for False Claims
Chemed Corporation and various wholly-owned subsidiaries, including Vitas Hospice Services LLC and Vitas Healthcare Corporation, have agreed to pay $75 million to resolve a government lawsuit alleging that defendants violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting false claims for hospice services to Medicare. Chemed, which is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, acquired Vitas in 2004. Vitas is…
New York Hospital Operator Pays $4 Million for Improper Payments to Doctors
MediSys Health Network, Inc., which owns and operates Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center, two hospitals in Queens, New York, has agreed to pay $4 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by engaging in improper financial relationships with referring physicians, the Department of Justice announced today. The…
Whistleblower Suit Results in Georgia Hospital paying more than $2.5 million to settle allegations of inflated bills and unnecessary ambulance trips.
The Medical Center, Navicent Health has agreed to pay more than $2.5 million to settle allegations that it submitted bills for ambulance trips that were either inflated or medically unnecessary. The settlement follows a 27-month investigation — prompted by a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former Navicent paramedic — of the hospital’s ambulance billing practices…