The federal government is suing a central Iowa physician and his plastic surgery center, alleging they used false information to inflate their Medicare billings for skin cancer treatments.
The U.S. Department of Justice alleges Dr. Eugene J. Cherny and his Urbandale plastic surgery practice, Heartland Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, routinely and knowingly provided false information to a Medicare contractor about how much Cherny actually paid for “skin-substitute products” used to treat Medicare beneficiaries for skin cancer and other ailments.
Relying on those allegedly false representations, the lawsuit states, the taxpayer-supported Medicare program then reimbursed Cherny $20,167,426 for those products between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2022 — although the portion of that amount the government attributes to fraudulent billing is not stated.
The lawsuit alleges that Cherny was a “prolific user” of skin-substitute products, which are biologic or synthetic materials used to cover or treat persistent wounds. Cherny allegedly purchased the products directly from two manufacturers and one distributor whose sales representatives allegedly explained to him how he could benefit from a substantial profit by using the products on his Medicare Part B patients.
“Cherny closely tracked the profits he made from using skin-substitute products and required his staff to maintain a logbook that tracked his return on investment,” the lawsuit alleges. “He refused to use a...
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