The government allegations medical solutions company, Reliance, engaged in an illegal kickback scheme with physicians.
Reliance Medical Systems LLC, a distributor of spinal implant devices headquartered in Bountiful, Utah, its owners, Bret Berry and Adam Pike, and two of their physician-owned distributorships are set to pay out $1 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by paying doctors to use Reliance’s medical devices in spinal surgeries on their own patients.
The False Claims Act, also known as the “Lincoln Law,” imposes liability on any party who defrauds government programs. It prohibits anyone (an individual, group of people or companies of any kind) from knowingly submitting a fraudulent claim for payment from the government. (This most commonly includes false claims for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.)
The Department of Justice (DOJ)’s lawsuit claimed the Reliance operated physician-owned distributorships (PODs) that, in reality, simply allowed them to collect kickback payments to persuade physicians to use Reliance Medical’s devices in their surgeries. The Anti-Kickback Statute of the False Claims Act forbids the offering of anything of value to entice the referral of items or services covered by federal health care programs. Violations of this statute commonly result in criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment, as well as civil penalties, including exclusion from participating in federal health care programs in...
A federal grand jury in St. George returned an indictment today charging a Utah podiatrist and two nurses who worked for him with fraud for their roles in a $29 million Medicare false claims case....